|
|
|
Canada
Key Factors: Canada has a history of victimization of people with disabilities
including forced sterilization. In reaction to that past, today Canada has
constitutional and other legislative guarantees protecting the rights and equality
of people with disabilities. The growth of human rights movements in Canada
has led to initiatives of deinstitutionalization, more individualized funding, and
increased visibility of the issues faced by the disability population in recent history.
Canada now officially recommends the use of person first language
in discussions of disability. A recent publication for media producers regarding
appropriate language to be used with respect to people with disabilities stated that
"the word "disabled" is an adjective, not a noun. People are not conditions."1 However,
earlier documents sometimes used terms that are now considered problematic. For
example, one important document from the early 1980's uses the term "handicapped."
When directly quoting documents, the original terminology has been retained.
Across Canada and within the numerous factions of the disability community,
the definition of disability is a continuously debated subject. Consequently, there is
no general definition of disabilities.
1. A Way with Words And Images: Guidelines for the portrayal of persons with disabilities, 2002, http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/asp/gateway.asp?hr=en/hip/odi/documents/wayWithWords/00_toc. shtml&hs=pyp.