Introduction

The evolution of the French language has led to a softening of the way people with disabilities are referred to, so as not to offend their sensibilities. However, while some people continue to use the term “handicapé” (disabled person), others use the term “personne en situation de handicap” (person with a disability). Which of these expressions is the most correct and appropriate?

*Being disabled

This expression refers to the deficiency or illness from which the individual suffers. For example, a person suffering from dwarfism, stammering or muteness is called “disabled” because of the illness from which he or she suffers.

*Living with a disability

This expression refers to an unsuitable environment. Using the example of a person of small stature (suffering from dwarfism) working on a mobile board placed on the floor or at his or her height, this person is no longer “disabled” because of his or her small stature, since he or she can still work without any problems. 

Faced with a board fixed at a height that can only be reached by using an object, the person is still not “disabled” if they use a stepladder, for example.

On the other hand, when faced with a picture that is too high for them, and with no means of reaching it, they find themselves in a situation of disability. In other words, the short person is no longer disabled because they are “short”; they are “disabled” because the painting has been set too high and there is no tool to enable them to reach it.

It is precisely to demonstrate this that, in 2001, the World Health Organisation (WHO) added a social aspect to the definition of a disabled person, in order to take better account of environmental factors. Because, in the final analysis, it is an unsuitable environment rather than the impairment itself that creates the disability. Article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities states: “Persons with disabilities include those who have impairments (…) which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society (…)”.

Conclusion

Whether it is one or the other of the two expressions, it is important to use the one that does not reduce the individual to his or her impairment alone. The expression “to be in a situation of disability” is therefore the most appropriate in that the person with a disability is no longer seen as such from the point of view of his or her illness but rather from the point of view of an unfavourable environment.