Srpski jezik je bogat. Divnim rečima. Opisuje sa nekoliko slova sve i svašta, više nego jasno. Ali…
Ima u njemu izraza, koji mi kad god ih čujem “paraju” uši. Nije mi od malena jasno kako se u nas odomaćio izraz “Spava k’o zaklan”, kada se u njemu jasno aludira na smrt, na to da dotični više ne može ništa. To valjda opisuje karakter žitelja ovdašnjih. Svakako je prikladnije reći da neko spava kao beba.
Poslednjih godina se u ovom delu sveta odomaćio izraz osoba sa posebnim potrebama. Od njega mi se svaki put prevrne želudac, a potom se zapitam šta on zapravo znači? Tako je bilo i dok sam gledao emisiju “Život priča” u kojoj je mali Luka inače, dečak sa autizmom, zajedno sa roditeljima koliko je mogao pričao Tanji Vojtehovski svoju priču.
Poslao sam joj poruku, ispod koje je bio link sa tekstom napisanim kada je moja sugrađanka iz Subotice Gala Savić izbacivana iz škole samo zato što ima retku i tešku bolest. Rekoh joj takođe, da savršeno razumem i radujem se postupku Lukine učiteljice. Ona je baš kao i moja Etuška, pisala sve što se sa Lukom dešava, siguran sam sa mnogo ambicije i entuzijazma mu prišla i uspela je da ga polako oslobađa strahova.
Setio sam se tada kako mi je učiteljica pre tri decenije držala ruku, dok pišem neko slovo ili broj. Kako me je svlačila i oblačila pred čas fizičkog, jer je malo pošto sam krenuo u školu rekla moji roditeljima da nema potrebe da dolaze na fizičko. Ona će sa mnom da radi. I radila je. Kao i sa ostalima. Ona je jednako kao i moji roditelji i sestra zaslužna za to što sam sada energična osoba, koja ne odustaje. Nikada! Predati se može uvek. Ali zar nas ne uče, da je život borba. Da najjači opstaju. Nikada se ne daju. Jer znaju, da i pad je let! Posle kog se ustaje i ide dalje.
Vratimo se na početak. Ispod tvita upućenog koleginici sa Prve, neko me je pitao “Imaš li posebne potrebe?”
“Ne, imam iste kao i svi, samo ih zadovoljavam na nešto drugačiji za neke teži način. Za mene jedini moguć”, odgovorio sam.
Pitam, vas, da li je posebna potreba to što jedem, spavam, radim, kupam se, volim..? Nije. To se ne razlikuje u odnosu na osobe koje nemaju nikakav invaliditet. Možda se razlikuje način na koji dolazim do zadovoljenja neke od tih potreba, ali to jedino može biti drugačije. Posebno svakako nije.
Da li ste ikada razmislili o tome, da upravo ta i takva nespretna i netačna jezička formulacija pravi razliku među nama? Diskriminiše! Možda nekoga sa manjkom informacija, uplaši? Znam za takve primere i baš zbog njih molim jezičke stručnjake da nađu izraz koji će adekvatnije opisati nas, koji smo deo istog sveta sa vama koji nemate problem poput našeg.
Tada će nam svima biti normalnije da osoba koja kao ja teže hoda bude sportski novinar, da je moja drugarica Ljupka Mihajlovska poslanik u Skupštini Srbije, da Beba Balašević posle nesreće, piše i režira kao i ranije, da Nata Kovačević i posle amputacije dela noge bude važan deo košarkaškog sveta… Primera je koliko hoćete i treba da prestanemo da ih krijemo. Jer, nam i tek kako mogu pomoći da postanemo svesni da svi mi nemamo posebne potrebe, već smo tu da koliko znamo i možemo pomognemo da budemo bolji i bude nam bolje!
I dоn’t have special needs and I don’t know what it means
Serbian is a rich language; full of beautiful words. It can convey a range of different meanings more than clearly in just a few letters. But…
There are expressions which, whenever I hear them, just don’t sound right. Since I was a child it’s been hard for me to understand how the phrase “to sleep as if slaughtered”*, came into usage when it clearly alludes to death and implies that the person concerned is not able to do anything anymore. It is definitely more appropriate to say that someone sleeps like a baby.
In recent years, another expression came into usage – person with special needs. Every time I hear it, I feel sick and then I wonder what it actually means. The same happened when I watched the show “Life tells a story” where small Luka, an autistic boy, and his parents were telling their story to Tanja Vojtehovski.
I sent her a message and the link to the text I wrote when my fellow citizen from Subotica, Gala Savić, was thrown out of school just because she has a rare and severe illness. I also told Tatjana that I perfectly understand and really like what Luka’s teacher has done. She has, just like my Etuska, noted down everything that has been going on with Luka, and I’m sure she has approached him ambitiously and enthusiastically and gradually managed to set him free from his fears.
I remembered my teacher holding my hand three decades ago while I was writing a letter or a number. I remembered how she used to dress me up and undress me before each PE class, since a few days after I started going to school, she told my parents that there was no need to come to PE class with me. She would be there for me. And she was; as for all the other kids… It’s thanks to her, as much as to my parents and sister, that now I am an energetic person who does not give up. Never! You can always give up. But aren’t we taught that life is a struggle; that winners take it all and never give up. They know that every cloud has a silver lining.
But, let’s go back to the beginning of the story. Commenting the tweet to my colleague from Prva TV, someone asked me “Do you have any special needs?”
“No, I have the same needs as everyone else, I just satisfy my needs in a slightly different, someone would say harder way. For me, that’s the only way possible,” I answered.
And now, I am asking you, is it a special need to eat, to sleep, to work, to have a shower, to love..? No, it isn’t. Compared to the needs of people who do not have any kind of disability, it is completely the same. Perhaps there is a difference in the way I satisfy some of these needs, but this is the only thing that may be different. And definitely there’s nothing special about it.
Have you ever considered that exactly this clumsy and inaccurate linguistic term is what makes the difference between us? It discriminates! Maybe it can even scare someone who does not have enough information. I know about such cases and that’s why I’d like that language experts coin an expression that will adequately describe “us” who belong to the same world as “you” do.
Thus it wouldn’t be strange that a person like me who has a walking difficulty is a sports journalist, that my friend Ljupka Mihajlovska is an MP in Parliament of Serbia, that Beba Balašević is still a writer and a director as she has been before the accident, that Nata Kovačević is an important figure in the basketball world even after the amputation of her leg … There are a number of examples and we should stop keeping them a secret. Because these examples can help us become aware of the fact that we do not have special needs, that we are all here, sharing our knowledge and experience to make ourselves better persons and to make this world a better place for all of us!
*”to sleep as if slaughtered” – literal translation of a Serbian phrase; English equivalent: “to sleep like a log”
Translated by:
Dragana Marković
https://www.facebook.com/Engleski-jezik-Skype-casovi-185144108168324
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