Disability - political correctness

I read with interest the Talking Point on disability by Dolores Christina (May 15). I have recently moved to Malta from the UK where I worked within the field of disability equality for the past 17 years. Although it is good to see that Malta is addressing the needs of disabled people and their families I wonder what progress can be made unless they adopt the social model of disability which is crucial to the development of policies and good practice.

It is clear by the language Ms Christina uses in the article that she does not quite grasp the difference between the medical and social models, nor does she separate disability and impairment. Words like "handicap", "the disabled", "people with disabilities" are not politically correct and would not be acceptable in the UK. A person cannot have a "disability ", they can have an impairment; the disability is placed on them by societies unwillingness to provide access to the 12 needs of independent living and goods and services.

I do not want people to think they have to "walk on egg shells" and be afraid of offending people because they fail to be "politically correct". On the other hand, using the right words is important, because words reflect our attitudes and beliefs. Wording and language that are non-judgemental and do not reinforce discriminatory attitudes will be found acceptable by disabled people.

As I work in the tourism industry here I have recognised that there is a great deal of work to do to meet the needs of our customers. Predominantly, Malta attracts the older customer and 80 per cent of disabled people acquire their impairment over the age of 65, therefore we see an increasing demand for accessible services. There are more than 10 million disabled people living in the UK today with a £50 billion spending power. Take into account that they would bring their families with them and this could be more than double. In the UK we have strict guidelines for air travel for disabled people, while here Air Malta still insist that guide dogs are placed in the hold! Ryanair does not have a good track record and cases have been brought to the Disability Rights Commission several times.

If you want to improve access for disabled people then you need to develop the policies and practice guidelines by involving the very people that it affects and ensure that disability rights have the same clout as race, gender, sexuality, religion and age.