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Words from years of reality: not disabled - people with determination

There are more than a million people in Israel, children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities, on the autistic continuum, with mental disabilities, with speech difficulties and more.

They are silent because it is difficult for them to fight and shout.

Our job as a civil society is to make their voices heard

A special column in honor of Equality Day for people with disabilities

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• People with disabilities

Oren Hellman

Friday, 03 December 2021, 07:24 Updated: 07:39

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In Dubai I met a businessman, we talked and the conversation quickly turned to being the father of a child with special needs. I told him about what was happening in Israel and he pulled out his son's disability certificate, and told me that in Dubai people with disabilities are called "people with determination". Then I realized something else. I realized that disability is not only cross-sectoral, religious and national, but it also crosses countries and continents.

I also got another example that words change reality. When in Israel the state calls these people "disabled" (as they are defined on the "disability certificate"), it produces their labeling based on their disability.

Now look, the use of the term "disabled" bothers me, because it's not just "terminology." This is the essence! Israel is the only state among the enlightened Western countries that still uses this stigmatized and labeling term. "Disabled" defines a person according to his disability, in labeling, in a different way in a negative and stigmatized way!

I do not know "disabled".

I know people with disabilities, or people with special needs.

It saddens me that there are factors that continue to perpetuate the stigmas through the use of this term.

More on Walla!

The answer to ignorance: information and integration

A special column in honor of International Day for the Equality of Persons with Disabilities

To the full article

More on Walla!

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The use of the negative term "disabled" is not a terminology, it is an essence (Photo: Walla !, Gil Teichman)

There are more than a million (!) People, children and teenagers with intellectual disabilities in Israel ("retards" in the language of those who use disabilities as a curse); On the autistic continuum ("autistics"); With a mental disability ("mentally ill"); With speech difficulties ("stuttering"); Low-rise ("dwarfs") and more. They are silent because it is difficult for them to fight and shout - but they are hurt. Oh how hurt they are. And it's a big wound in our heart. Every day we encounter shocking cases of ridicule and humiliation of people with tort, mental disabilities and more. And I ask: Why do people who humiliate people with disabilities not get fined? Why are there no punitive actions against them ?!

By comparison, in Dubai they are perceived as determined people. And this makes sense, because anyone who knows the world of disabilities knows that the challenges are endless, the difficulties are endless, and ultimately to perform any action that is routine for us - for someone with disabilities it is a supreme effort.

Therefore the attitude of society and the state towards these people must take into account the need for their integration and beginning in every field: in society, in civil life, at work, in the labor market, in culture and the arts, in sports and more.

When people with disabilities are treated as inspiring and determined, they are also not mocked or disabled are used as an object of ridicule or cursing or to criticize others.

For me, the real winner of the competition is not the one who came in first place, but rather the one who came in last place.

And why?

Because he participated in the competition.

It should be understood that the participation for about a million people with severe disabilities living in Israel, is the real victory!

The problem is that we, the society in Israel and also the state itself, are the barriers of those people: discrimination, exclusion, ridicule, and stigmas are the main barriers before participating in anything.

Society and the state in Israel are the barriers of people with disabilities (Photo: Walla !, official website)

Since I became a special dad, there are two songs I really like. The first is "You and I will change the world." It's pretty clear why and to that end I set up the Equal Opportunity venture to integrate people with disabilities into work and society.

The second song is "What birds":

Well, in my opinion this song was not written about birds, but about people with disabilities: those who can not speak, who can not tell what they are going through and what they are experiencing, those who do not interest anyone, those whose voice is not heard and who no one wants to be heard. Our job as a civil society is to make their voices heard. It is our job to shout their cry, to fight their silence, to bring their plight to the public agenda!

A society where people are defined by their disabilities is a sick and really unhealthy society.

A society that excludes instead of integrating and containing the other, is an unequal society.

We live in a society that does not have access to schools, government offices, public transport and other essential things, for those who can not be like us, because they have mental, mental disabilities, who use a wheelchair, who have autism, who do not see or hear.

So whoever does not understand that all these are completely equal to each and every one else - he has a failing grade in democracy, human rights, human love and mutual guarantee.

Since Israel is already 74 years old, I believe that a system of legislation and enforcement needs to be created in order to fundamentally change the attitude of Israeli society towards people with disabilities.

At the same time, it is certainly possible to educate and explain, but a system of legislation and enforcement is committed to reality.

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