OUR Vangelis Avgulas “sees with the eyes of the soul”, oh Cool creeps (Spiros Ntantanidis and Grigoris Chrysikos) – “prodigies”, a classmate with attention deficit disorder and dysgraphia – “retarded”. Wittgenstein said: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” people with disabilities.

On the Cool Crips Facebook and Instagram pages, Spyros and Grigoris share their thoughts on disability issues with a heavy dose of (self) sarcasm and wit. One of them is semi-disability, that is, actions, attitudes, practices that treat people with disabilities as inferior and lead to their exclusion. In its simplest, most everyday form, disability comes through communication.

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“The speech of disabled people is offensive and unpleasant. He describes human bodies as subordinate, like “well, are you paralyzed?”. The sad thing is that it’s everywhere. We find it in official political speech (e.g. ‘government is deaf to problems’), in fan slogans, in daily TV shows, and in barbershop conversations. “TO”.

“One is characterized by the state of lifeas well as hair color, eye color, height, weight,” notes Vangelis Avgoulas, a blind lawyer, board member of the Athens Bar Association and president of AMKE “Me Alla Matia”.

There is also a distinction in English between “disablism” and “disablism”. idealization of normality (“ableism”, from the word “capable” – capable) are two concepts that go hand in hand. “I’m all ears” is not very memorable if you say it in sign language, but in our opinion it is an example of ableist speech that can be used with a bit of humor,” Spyros and Grigoris report.

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“Kid”, “Special Needs” and … Batman

One of the most common “fouls” of language – and a sign of the wrong disability – in relation to people with disabilities is the unfortunate characterization of them as “children”regardless of age.

Noting the childish approach to their own kind, Cool Crips emphasize that the healthy population has been “indoctrinated” with the idea that people with disabilities desexualizedthat they need constant care, that they are harmless and remain forever pure and God-sent.

Directly related to this notion that people with disabilities are “special” is the dominance in public discourse—at least until the 2000s—of the term “Defective”, which is still in use today. Apart from its offensive aspect, it should be noted that more than 20 years ago it was replaced by “disabled” with 2001 constitutional review.

“People with disabilities do not prefer the term ‘special needs’ because our needs are not special. The fact that there is no ladder in the toilet does not make it necessary for a specialist to visit it, ”say the Cool Creeps.

Vangelis Avgulas comes to the same conclusion, but in a different way: “We all have special needs: this is housing, security, food, water.

Speaking generally about how people with disabilities are treated in light of “special needs,” he notes that people in the past have had the impression that the blind, like himself, used and developed their other senses more. “When you’re disabled, you don’t become like… Batman.“, he says disarmingly.

From handicapped to handicapped and handicapped

As he explains, he was once dominated by medical model against disability. “We spoke”suffering“for autism”was diagnosed» with paraplegia. We focused on what does not work. If we saw a ladder and we had a person with a musculoskeletal disorder, we would rather work to heal that person and maybe be able to climb the stairs.”

Coming (literally) into the 21st century, the perception has changed, it’s (also) constitutionally recognized social, anthropocentric model and the term prevails “disabled” (PWD). “Now we are saying, why do we need a ladder, and not make a ramp accessible to everyone? We call ourselves people with disabilities (rather than special needs) because we want to call a spade a spade. Congenital or acquired disability is part of our life and reality,” notes the lawyer, who was elected to the board of directors in 2021. Board of directors.

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In the same vein, Cool Crips declare themselves “disabled” not because they are first disabled and then people: “Obviously we want to declare Identification we love it, and also highlight the oppression we feel when we face the obstacles that are thrust upon us every day. Obstacles cripple us not damage to our bodies, so disability it’s not what you have, it’s what you live with and this can also be described as an exception.”

what is possible and what is not

As a result of this exception, and the fact that the world has not learned to coexist with disabled people, too, there are mistakes in communicating with them. Mr. Avgoulas emphasizes, moreover, that it is not the Greek language as a language that has defective elements, but pejorative usage them (“you are an autist”, “you are deaf”, “you are a crooked-armed girl”, “a stroller”).

Other examples of incorrect usage and pronunciation:

• The term “deaf and dumb“(one who does not hear and has no speech, voice) is incorrect and preferable to “deaf” or “deaf”. First, there are people who have acquired hearing impairments at a later age, so they can speak. But even congenitally deaf do not speak because they have not heard the pronunciation of the speech, this does not mean that they cannot pronounce the voice.
• A common mistake is to talk about “Braille” when it is “braille embossing” because it is a writing system and not another language. Instead, we say “sign language” because it varies from country to country.
• Mr. Avgulas considers the term incorrect “special care”, and in comparison we say “general education”. In English, the term “special education” is translated as “special education”.
• We don’t change the tone of voice us when we talk to people with disabilities.
• We don’t talk to the attendant disabled when we address him, but directly to him.

On the other hand, the blind lawyer emphasizes that people don’t have to worry when communicating with people with visual impairments or other disabilities. “Like if you tell me”Let’s take a look in this book, I will find alternatives: use other senses or ask you for directions. Don’t be afraid to talk about colors blind or use the verb “I understandAccordingly, if you are talking about a person in a wheelchair that he is “taking his first steps at the university”, this is a metaphorical use of language.

Importantly, as Mr. Avgulas argues, overturn ignorance and prejudice world for people with disabilities through campaigns to raise awareness among the general population, with the training of professionals in visible areas (educators, judges and journalists) and, above all, with education from an early age, including disability as a subject in schools. He also considers it positive that in February this year, the Ministry of Justice adopted a resolution on a draft law on the exclusion of derogatory definitions of disability from the Civil Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, the Criminal Code, the Administrative Procedure Code and the Notary Code. .

“A person should not be identified with his violation, but to have a modern anthropocentric ideology. When we talk about or with people with disabilities, we should not think about what they can’t,” he concludes.

It is noted that in the disability community it depends on the individual’s personal preferences, whether to characterize them as “disabled/paraplegic/on the autism spectrum” (anthropocentric use of language) or whether to first project their status as “disabled/paraplegic”. limbs.” /blind atom”.

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