No More Awkward Moments: How to Talk to Persons with Disability

Apart from promoting awareness and advocating disability rights, CRPD’s Disability Equality Training (DET) sessions aim to do away with the awkwardness when interacting with persons with disability. Andrea Gergis talks to DET unit leader Christine Mifsud

When she was 20 years old, Christine Mifsud lost her eyesight due to an uncontrolled spike in her blood sugar level when she was pregnant. Now 43, Christine is married, a mother to grown- twin daughters, and after 3 years working at CRPD’s Disability Equality Training unit, she has been the unit leader now for over a year.

Thanks to a screen reader, Christine is able to read and send emails and use her mobile phone effectively. She is also independently mobile, also thanks to her guide dog Dora. Having known Christine for nearly five years, I have had the privilege of witnessing their relationship from the very start, when Dora was only a year old. Dora’s loyalty and love towards Christine are truly moving.

DET – Disability Equality Training – is all about how to communicate and interact with persons with disability respectfully and using the correct etiquette, which makes interactions smooth and helps do away with the awkwardness which some persons might feel when approaching persons with disability.

‘I used to raise awareness on etiquette with persons with disability, without realising it, before I started working with CRPD,’ says Christine. For instance, it is inappropriate to caress a guide dog while it is wearing its harness; directions such as ‘come here’ or ‘right there’ are not helpful to someone who is visually impaired. ‘Thanks to the personal experiences that I have accumulated over 20 years, I found it natural to move into doing the DET sessions.’

The DET unit consists of seven persons who, between them, share a range of impairments. Christine and Mary Rose Attard, based at the CRPD’s Gozo office, both have a visual impairment; Joann Spiteri is Deaf while Rita Vella and Vanessa Cassar have physical impairments. Blaine Schembri, the latest member to join the team, is on the autism spectrum while Isabel Bonello has an intellectual disability.

All use their impairment as a tool to educate clients about the etiquette to use towards persons who have the same or similar impairment as theirs. When the unit does not have a first-hand experience of an impairment, the team carries out its research to be able to understand those particular impairments. Christine’s guide dog Dora is always with her and her presence in DET sessions can be an icebreaker, especially with children, who are always fascinated by her.

‘Every DET session is tailor-made for the client.’ During each session, the team elicits stories from the clients about their encounters and interaction with persons with disability and then provide feedback and suggestions. Since the team shares their own stories, clients are not just given information, but also personal experiences and stories.

‘DET sessions are very open. We can talk about any subject, whether it’s relationships, sexuality, sports and leisure, employment and education. Christine herself is a lively and friendly character, with a robust sense of humour, which makes her well-admired during the sessions.