The government of India this week changed the Hindi term to describe persons with disabilities in the Empowerment of Persons with Disability department from ‘Viklang’ (dysfunctional limb) to ‘Divyang’ (divine ). While the dropping of the limited, outdated ‘viklang’ is commendable, its replacement with ‘divyang’ is unfortunate and misguided. Worse, ‘divyang’ has been chosen — for use in English as well — despite widespread protests from persons with disabilities from late last year.
Persons with disabilities are rightly furious. The government’s move flies in the face of the rights-based approach to disability that India committed to when it signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability. ‘Nothing about us without us’ is a guiding principle of the sector. The almost unilateral decision — ignoring that principle and the views of a community long underrepresented — reveals an outdated mindset on disability.
This mindset is revealed again in the choice of the term ‘divyang’. ‘Elevating’ the real struggles and problems that persons with disability face to the divine realm denies them their humanity while also absolving society of its responsibility to enable and ensure a barrier-free environment that will allow them to realise their full potential. The term smacks of the patronising approach that celebrates achievements of persons with disability overcoming barriers — derisively termed ‘inspiration porn’ — rather than working towards dismantling those barriers. Persons with disabilities are humans, not divine: they bleed, despair, rejoice and die. The government should recognise this, and realise that disability is not so much a condition of the human body as it is of an environment and society that dis-ables some from accessing rights and living a full life. It should recognise its responsiblity and work towards that end instead of coining empty, condescending neologisms.