Handicap and Disability: What is the Difference?

Abstract

In mass media, there has been much news about people with special needs; however, the articles or broadcasts do not use appropriate diction. In Indonesia, the term handicap has been changed to disability since 2009 based on the humanity right perspective. The purpose of this research is to show the understanding about the concept of the terms: disability and handicap toward the people who rarely interact with disability. This research used qualitative approach. Referential and pragmatic identity methods were used for analyzing the data. The findings showed that the respondents did not understand the difference between the terms: disability and handicap.  The perspective was still based on the cause of the impairment. It was a birth defect or an accident effect.