Priorities

How Language Shapes The Disability Experience In India

How Language Shapes The Disability Experience In India

by The Daily Eye Team February 25 2017, 1:01 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 36 secs

One day Madan Vasishta is deaf — the next, divine. Nothing special happened to him. He experienced no moment of religious clarity…no metaphysical encounter. This is simply the result of the introduction of a new label by the Indian government. Meaning “divine body,” this Hindi word has been adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to identify a person with disability. The idea that one’s disability has, in one semantic shift, become a measure of godliness, is a linguistic change India’s disabled view as a patronizing act — further entrenching barriers between those with and without disabilities. “My ears are not God’s ears,” Vasishta responds.

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HUMRA QURAISHI


Humra Quraishi is a writer, columnist and journalist. She has authored Kashmir: The Unending tragedy, Reports From the Frontlines, Kashmir: The Untold Story, Views: Yours and Mine, Bad Time Tales, More Bad Time Tales, Divine Legacy: Dagars & Dhrupad and Meer. She has co- authored The Good The Bad and The Ridiculous: Profiles, Absolute Khushwant and a series of writings with the late Khushwant Singh. Her take on what's it like to be a singleton in today's turbulent times, is part of the Penguin published anthology, Chasing the Good Life: On Being Single. And, one of her essays, The State Can't Snatch Away our Children is part of the Zubaan published anthology, Of Mothers And Others. Her essay in the volume on the 1984 Sikh riots, 1984: In Memory and Imagination is titled, Why not a Collective Cry for Justice!  


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