PERSON-FIRST LANGUAGE OR IDENTITY-FIRST LANGUAGE IN RELATION TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN PUBLIC DISCOURSE

Abstract

Polands ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012 has changed the ways in which disability is defined in the country. There has been a move away from a perception of disability based on medical terms towards one that views disability as an effect of barriers inherent in society. The adoption of such a social model has led to a shift in perspective in terms of how people with disabilities are identified. In public debate there has been a noticeable discarding of the terms disabled, blind, cripple, invalid, etc., in favour of such expressions as a person with a disability, and a person with special needs. This indicates a tendency to refrain from offering any definition of disability or type of disability and focussing instead on putting the person first and replacing the concept of disability with other less stigmatizing terms. The main goal of the study is a discourse analysis (a quantitative content analysis) of the content of the websites of ministries and government institutions. This approach will enable us to highlight changes in the language of disability determination at government level, where social policy is shaped. Thanks to this, it will also be possible to recreate different ways of defining people with disabilities and show the dominant model of disability perception in contemporary Poland.