COORDINATED ATTITUDES FOR USE OF EQUAL TERMINOLOGY FOR DISABILITY PERSONS

Abstract

On June 9th, 2004, the National coordinative body for equal rights of disability people of Republic of Macedonia, established by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, organized a discussion about the problems connected with the use of different terminology about disability people in legislation, science and communication among some institutions, organs and organizations and among some expert staff in certain social regions such as: education, social care, health care, old-age benefit and  disability pension and other.
In the discussion, participated the representatives of: Institute for special education and rehabilitation at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, specialized institutions in the field of rehabilitation, health care, asocial and children’s care, governmental agencies, humanitarian organizations, disability organizations, associations of parents and other interested volunteer organizations and experts.
After long and constructive and expert discussion with the participation of more than thirty discussants, unanimously was adopted a conclusion for equalization of previous differently used terms:

• For adults to be used the term: disability;
• For children to be used the term: children with developmental disabilities and special needs.