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In Iceland, the law still calls people with disabilities bad words. They call people with disabilities words like “idiot” and “deaf-mute”. The Government in Iceland must now change these words. They must now use: • “Individual with a developmental disability” • “A person with combined vision and hearing impairment” They had to change this because it is against The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (for short UN CRPD). The UN CRPD says that all governments must not use discriminating language. |
The Icelandic Penal Code has, at long last, been updated to exclude discriminatory terms to describe people with disabilities.
Among the many examples, the term “idiot,” which features in Article 222 of the Penal Code, has now been replaced by the phrase “individual with a developmental disorder.”
Until now, the Article stated, “Anyone who, intentionally or unwittingly, gives dangerous objects or substances to a child younger than 15 years old, a mentally ill person, an idiot or an intoxicated person will be fined or jailed.”
A number of other changes will be made to the wording of Articles such as “deaf-mute,” which will now be written as “a person with combined vision and hearing impairment.” The label “fatlaður” is even still in the current version of the Penal Code, a term roughly translated as “cripple.” This will now be replaced by “a person with a disability.”
This is, however, not the only example of outdated terminology referring to people with disabilities within a country’s legislation. Section 5 of the Irish Sexual Offences Act 1993 is still named ‘Protection of mentally impaired persons.’
Any signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), including Iceland and EU member states, must now adhere to strict guidelines on the language used when describing people with disabilities.
