Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Looking Into Disability Hate Speech

By Daphne Bowen


A speech that discriminates individuals because of the color of their skin, their tribes, political affiliations and the faith they profess is considered to be hate speech. Speech that victimizes members who are disabled is known as disability hate speech. Disabled people communicate in their own means for example using nonverbal cues to express themselves. They are still isolated in society by the able persons.

Different from racial and religiously motivated hate crime, this kind of crime is a relatively a concept that has been hard to eliminate. The aforementioned hate crimes can be changed or hidden unlike disability. This labeling of individuals with disabilities takes all the focus on their inabilities instead of their abilities and strengths, this creates a line between the individuals from the able society and disabled people.

Those who propagate hatred enjoy their freedom since the law enforcement bodies are reluctant in administering justice to the victims. They get demoralized and hence they develop an attitude that the society neglects the under privileged whenever a case involving them is reported. The continuous negligence of their rights makes them apologetic of the condition they are in.

Some organizations have been established to advocate for equity and justice for the underprivileged members in the society. This ensures that disabled members have their representatives at all levels especially government offices, entertainment and news platforms. Considerations should be put in place during recruitment of civil servant. Private sectors should also do the same as the government to minimize the bridge between able and disabled beings.

Wiping out the stereotypes in the society about the disabled is the key mission of such organizations.one of the sensitive areas is language, this is what enables the recipient of the message to judge if the message has some elements of hatred directed to people with disabilities. Every individual is entitled to freedom of expression as long as his/her address does not violate other people rights. A balance that reserves the rights of every person should be arrived at to ensure the rights of individuals are safeguarded whenever there is conflict.

Biased expressions allow minorities to suffer from being attributed with negativity, and are directly harmful to them. The speech may cause the recipient to suffer direct physical or emotional changes. Hence, the continued use of negative expressions generates a feeling of inferiority to their community status which may affect their psychological well-being in an irreversible way.

Today many countries have committed themselves to end this hate speech by coming up with ways to control the vice. Societies have been created in schools with open membership regardless of his/her physical appearance, language or culture. This gives hope to them that even their views can be taken.

The disabled are considered for top jobs opportunities in the government to motivate the other disabled members and give them hope that their dreams are valid. Guidance and counseling centers have also been created to help the victims of disability hate propaganda. Some institutions have been developed to prosecute those who propagate hatred amongst the public. Any statement that is likely to spark hostility among the members of the public should be discarded.




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