Demolishing intangible barriers: Disability inclusion starts with changing societal attitudes

When people talk about disability, their vocabulary often reflects a charitable outlook. The word “suffering”, for instance, is frequently used when they speak about disability. These attitudes form an intangible wall of social exclusion that gets ingrained in society over the years. To alter this prejudicial social mindset, it is vital to change such phraseology.

That is what prompted one of the authors of this article (Shashank Pandey) to write a handbook titled Attitudinal Barrier and Framework for Disability Sensitive Language. Drafted for the Goa State Commission for Persons with Disabilities, it was released at the Purple Fest event at Rashtrapati Bhavan on February 26.

Often, when planners are thinking about disability, the idea of reasonable accommodation has been restricted to certain preconceived ideas of accessibility relating to infrastructure, such as providing ramps, lifts, Braille and sign language. Even the media is locked into this view of accessibility.

The handbook aims to shed light on how social attitudes create barriers for persons with disabilities – the “attitudinal barrier”, as the Rights of Person with Disabilities Act, 2016, describes it.

Understanding attitudinal barriers

Attitudinal barriers include diverse perceptions, cognitive biases and discriminatory sentiments that society harbours towards Persons with Disabilities. These barriers are nurtured to evolve stereotypes around disability.

They usually manifest in the use of...

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