Christina Walling-Zhimomi
Audiologist & Speech Language Pathologist
The Disability Certificate of Along issued from Mokokchung says “Deaf and Dumb”, while that of Amenuo’s issued from Kohima says “Mutism”. Ngukavi’s certificate issued from Dimapur says “Deaf and Dumb with bilateral profound hearing loss”. Though the certificates of these different individuals have used different terminologies, all these individuals are in fact just Deaf. We have seen several other certificates and IDs where terms such as “Hearing Impairment”, “Deaf”, “Deaf and mute” etc. have been used in certificates and IDs issued from different districts in Nagaland.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (RPwD Act 2016) has released a list where 21 disabilities are recognised in India. In the category of Hearing Impairment as given in The Schedule 1.C(a) and (b), it has listed “Deaf” and “Hard of Hearing” as the two categories under Hearing Impairment. It further specifies in 1.C(a) that “deaf” means persons having 70 dB hearing loss in speech frequencies in both ears, and in 1.C(b) that “hard of hearing” means persons having 60 dB to 70 dB loss in speech frequencies in both ears. No other terms such as “deaf and dumb”, “deaf and mute” or “mutism” have been mentioned in this Schedule.
The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), has published a guideline on certification of Persons with Hearing Impairment. It includes the process of assessment, calculation of percentage of disability and issuing of disability certificates.
In addition, terms such as “deaf and dumb”, “deaf and mute”, “mute” etc. are out-dated, no longer used and are in fact considered offensive to the population. Several members of the Deaf community in Nagaland have expressed their dismay and disappointment when their certificates and IDs have used these terms. The disappointment is more when these terminologies are used by highly qualified and educated professionals.
It is time for the concerned department in Nagaland to come up with a uniform procedure and nomenclature to be used in all districts of Nagaland. Though this article addresses only the terminology used for the Hearing Impaired population, the same can be said for other disabilities like Visual Impairment, Intellectual Disability etc. For example, the term “Mental Retardation” and “Mentally Retarded” are deemed offensive and are no longer used. It has been replaced by the term “Intellectual Disability” in both DSM V and ICD 11. However, these archaic terms are still being used while issuing disability certificates to them in Nagaland. As such, it is for the concerned department to develop a standard assessment procedure and a uniform nomenclature for all the 21 disabilities listed in the RPwD Act 2016, following national guidelines and to create awareness among the medical fraternity across all districts in Nagaland.
The Deaf Community of Nagaland is hopeful that this issue will be taken up and that corrective measures will be put into action at the earliest, as they have been subjected to these derogatory terminologies for decades. It is time to move forward, the first step being that of doing away with archaic and often offensive terms and by acknowledging them for who they really are.
