A disability campaigner has won the day after a health trust removed a sign which refered to disabled people as “physically handicapped”.
Campaigner Peter Mitchell called the sign at Limavady Health Centre “deeply offensive and wrong on so many levels”.
He said there was an onus on health care providers to use more socially acceptable language.
The Western Health and Social Care Trust has promised to take action.
Now it has and it has been replaced with a new sign which reads: “Toilets & baby changing facilities.
Mr Mitchell, a local actor and wheelchair user, told BBC Radio Foyle last week that at first he thought the sign was a “wind-up”.
“The word handicapped is really offensive,” he said.
“It comes from mid 17th Century when disabled people were seen as second class citizens, they literally had to beg on the streets with their cap in their hands.
“Do people look at me because I am in a wheelchair, as a second class citizen, that I have nothing to offer?”
He said there was ongoing debate among disability groups as to appropriate language, but said there was widespread agreement that the word handicapped was “wrong on so many levels”.
In a statement the Western Trust said: “We are grateful that this has been brought to our attention and will take action to rectify immediately.”
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