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Words like ‘Aphonia’ and ‘Apnea’
sound almost similar but fell apart in the conceptualisation
of disability terms. ‘Aphonia’ signifies an inability to
produce speech sound whereas "Apnea" identifies with
the episodic arrest of breathing. Similarly ‘Diplepia’, is
a kind of paralysis that affects both sides of the body.
However in Diplopia’, one suffers from double vision. It
occurs due to paralysis of ocular muscles. Moreover ‘Pica’
highlights the craving and eating of unusual food during
certain medical conditions, particularly pregnancy. But ‘Picu’
is basically a paediatric care unit. Similarly ‘occlusion’
is the closing and filling together of dental structures but
‘ocular’ finds its meaning pertaining to the eye.
How many of
us know that ‘cat scan’ is a computerised axial tomography?
In simple words, the x-ray of the brain is taken to find out
the structural abnormality. Moreover it is not always true
that "all is well that ends well’ because ‘ALL’
here gives a signal for "Acute lymphocytic
leukemia". It is a sort of blood cell production
disorder. The abnormal white blood cells accumulate in the
blood and bone morrow.
‘Salad’
is the mouth-watering word but how many of us have ever heard
of "word salad". In terms of disability, ‘word
salad’ is a mixture of words and phrases that lack
comprehensive meaning or logical coherence. Anyway, at least
once in a life, surely one suffers from one or other kind of
phobia. But mind it, "zoophobia" is the pathological
fear of animals.
Moreover, it
depends how an individual spends the waiting period. For God’s
sake not like this dictionary, which identifies ‘waiting
period’ with the period of time between the "beginning
of a disability and the day benefit begins". In other
words, it can safely be said as ‘elimination period."
Anyhow, never
get confused with words ‘Ureter’ and ‘urethra’. In
both the cases, the word’ ‘tube’ is significant, however
the operational working differs. In ‘ureter’, the urine is
a carried from kidneys to the bladder but ‘urethra’
carries away from bladder to outside the body. At the same,
the ‘shunt’ is commonly used term. It is a tube, which is
inserted surgically. It can be between two blood vessels, two
spaces or two organs. Never take the word ‘Scoliosis’
lightly. It is the curvature of the spine. It can either be
congenital, acquired from poor posture or disease. Moreover be
careful." Toxic deafness’ can occur due to the effect
of drugs on sensory mechanism but in ‘tone deafness’, one
is failed to distinguish between two sounds of different
frequencies within the normal range.
Have you ever seen a blind
bearing something on the head? Never afraid, it is a "sonicguide".
In fact this is an electronic mobility device. It emits ultra
sound and converts reflections from object into audible noise.
Such terms and many more relating to the disabilities become
the part of this dictionary. The compiler really deserves a
word of appreciation and one must look for more comprehensive
dictionary in future.
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FROM
‘handicapped’ to ‘challenged’ is perhaps a long
journey that the disabled have to travel. The word ‘handicapped’
sounds contemptuous, but a spirit of adventurism has been
infused by making him a ‘challenged’ person. Thereby once
the physically handicapped is now a physically ‘challenged’
individual.
