Terms for Disability in Russia
Apr. 11th, 2011 01:28 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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learn_russianHi, all.
I'm looking for ways to describe or refer to people with disabilities in Russian. Not so much the direct translations for conditions I can find in a dictionary, but the more nuanced phrases or expressions. It could be any kind of disability, physical or mental, blindness, deafness, traumatic brain injury, even speech disorders like stuttering.
Also, if anyone could give me some examples of disabled characters (broadly defined) in Russian literature, that would awesome. It could be from classic literature, contemporary fiction or autobiography. Any lead is appreciated. Thank you!
I'm looking for ways to describe or refer to people with disabilities in Russian. Not so much the direct translations for conditions I can find in a dictionary, but the more nuanced phrases or expressions. It could be any kind of disability, physical or mental, blindness, deafness, traumatic brain injury, even speech disorders like stuttering.
Also, if anyone could give me some examples of disabled characters (broadly defined) in Russian literature, that would awesome. It could be from classic literature, contemporary fiction or autobiography. Any lead is appreciated. Thank you!
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:45 pm (UTC)Кривоногий и хромой,
Выбегает Умывальник
И качает головой." :)(К. Чуковский)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:45 pm (UTC)Борис Полевой - "Повесть о настоящем человеке" - a story of a real Soviet pilot Алексей Петрович Маресьев who lost both his legs after his plane was crashed during WWII yet who managed to return to flying.
Fictional - Анатолий Иванов, "Вечный зов", and epic novel covering all the first half of the XX century, where inevitably some characters (Иван Савельев, Кирьян Инютин) are incapacitated during WWII, and one (Демьян Инютин)during WWI, yet unlike the first book, it doesn't focus on the injury.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:51 pm (UTC)Савельев lost an arm, making him "однорукий";
the father, Демьян Инютин, half his leg; he then made himself a peg leg, so he was "одноногий", and "прыгал на деревяшке", literally, "jumped on a piece of wood, the peg leg", and the son, Кирьян Инютин, both of his legs, so he was "безногий".
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:47 pm (UTC)These seats are reserved for persons with disabilities.
Места для инвалидов.
Mental disability carries a stigma still. Most terms are offensive. Even "ненормальный" -- literally not normal or abnormal is offensive at least as much as stupid is in English speech. Medical term is психическое заболевание -- mental illness. That term is not offensive, but strictly medical. However, all other derivatives are offensive and are used for both to describe an ill person or to offend someone: псих, психический (almost out of usage nowadays, but common about a hundred years ago: "Лови его, он психический!"), психованный (lower speech), психопат(ка) (both medical term and an offense), etc.
Also, дебил, отсталый (from medical умственно отсталый), тронутый, тупой, (slow-witted).
Other disabilities are mostly get described: безногий, безрукий, одноногий, однорукий, парализованный, слепой, глухой, немой. An offensive word is урод that can be used in describing any of those and also uglyness. That last one is one of those old Slavic words that get different meanings in different Slavic languages. Урод is a shortened form from уродился (уродилась) -- someone who was born different. In Russian урод means ugly, in Polish урода means someone beautiful.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-10 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:53 pm (UTC)Everybody knows this line about considerate weakening of sight in old age:
"Мартышка к старости слаба глазами стала..." (А. Крылов)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 07:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:53 pm (UTC)I believe Russian is not really reach in names for physical disabilities as it's a kind of taboo topic and usually overall tolerance to disabilities is rather low in modern Russian society (though I am not a sociologist/psychologist and can not tell it for sure). However you will find tons of names for mental disabilities, if you are OK to include those making a part of abusive lexis.
blindness: слепой (adj, = blind), слепошарый (adj, = blind, abusive), косой (adj, = squint-eyed);
deafness: глухой (adj, = deaf), слабослышащий (adj, politically correct variant for глухой);
speech disorders: заика (noun, = the one who stutters, informal, rude), немой (adj, =dumb), картавый (adj,= the one who burrs), шепелявый (adj,= the one who lisps), гнусавый (adj, = the one who has nasal voice), гундосый=гнусавый;
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 09:38 pm (UTC)in fact, technically, 'слабослышащий' stands for 'hard of hearing' (partially deaf), although some do use it to denote deaf people. yet, a more correct politically correct (sorry for the tautology) variant would be 'неслышащий'.
the word 'глухонемой' (deaf-mute) is still widely used, although it is neither politically nor factually correct.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 08:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 08:04 pm (UTC)I have never come across this word before. I reckon, it's a local slang word, isn't it?
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 08:16 pm (UTC)I am originally from Siberia :)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 10:51 pm (UTC)You mentioned that tolerance for disabilities is low in modern Russia. Would you say that's true only for physical and mental issues? If I wanted to learn more about advocacy, services and legislation for people with disabilities in Russia, where would you recommend I start?
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 07:20 am (UTC)http://www.vog.su/
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Date: 2011-04-11 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 03:59 am (UTC)some ppl generally are quite rude towards anyone who looks/feels different, below comment just shows the general trend compared to other countries
my mother had second stroke just few days ago... being in hospital with ppl who survived that makes u reconsider priorities for sure...........
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:18 pm (UTC)92691 (http://video.tochka.net/video/view/92691/), а еще есть трейлеры (http://video.tochka.net/trailer/) на video.tochka.net
Олег Смолин. Не is a deputy of russian parliament. He is blind.
http://kprf.ru/personal/smolin/
Дарья Донцова, well-known writer. She have got cancern
Рустам Адагамов - the most popular russian blogger. He is stutterer
drugoi.livejournal.com
Валерия Новодворская, politician. She is mentally ill :)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:26 pm (UTC)Михаил Зощенко - Прияиная встреча.
In between others he uses a word that hasn't been mentioned here yet - душевнобольные.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:29 pm (UTC)Not modern and a bit less polite style (but shorter) - "инвалид".
Literature character :) "Серая шейка", but she was a young duck, but very sweet.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:49 pm (UTC)Ruben Gallego was born with cerebral palsy. He is a Russian-speaking author, but his parents were of Venezuelan and Spanish origin. His first book is autobiographical.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 08:00 pm (UTC)For most of physical disabilities like leglessness there is a general term "увечье" (from "век", "на весь век", the word means that it is for the rest of one's life) and corresponding adjective "увечный".
no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:33 pm (UTC)As for the word, does it only apply to physical disabilities acquired in adulthood? Or could you use the same word for something that happened in early childhood (infancy or toddler years)?
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 09:25 pm (UTC)used in proverb "Ума нет - считай калека"
дурак - 'fool', also it is an offensive word, usually used by children.
тупица, дубина - 'dumb man', in terms of stupidness, not speechlesness
In lots of russian fairy-tales the main character is called Иван-дурак (Ivan the Fool). Дурак is both a name (but not nowadays) and means 'fool'. Usually he is not smart but lucky.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 09:51 pm (UTC)Don't think it's widely used outside the autistic/asperger community, though.
Not sure what you mean by the "more nuanced expressions". For now disability has strong negative connotations in Russian. Are you interested in that kind of examples?
The only exception I can think of right now is блаженный or юродивый, outdated by about 2 or 3 centuries and meaning basically "mentally disabled" and "saint" or "prophet" at the same time. In the Russian Empire the mentally disabled were regarded as blessed by God, as someone God speaks through. If you read Russian, here's Wiki for you: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Юродство. They were rather popular in literature and art for quite a while, although not as main characters. There's one in Pushkin's "Boris Godunov", for example.
Oh, the obvious example of a mentally disabled in the Russian literature-Dostoevsky's "Idiot".
An example of stuttering from the Strugatsky brothers: Fedor Simeonovich Kivrin in "Monday Begins on Saturday".
That's all I can tell off the top of my head.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-13 11:57 pm (UTC)A common notion in these comments seem to be that there is low tolerance for people with disabilities in Russia today. But it's interesting that you mention the mentally disabled, for example, were highly regarded in the Russian Empire. What changed? Was there something about the USSR that made society shun its disabled members?
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 07:59 am (UTC)псих (<= психический <= психически больной)
шизик (<= шизофреник)
чокнутый, долбанутый (originating from different words meaning "to hit"; implies someone is nuts because of having been hit on the head with something heavy)
больной на (всю) голову
с головой не в порядке (у тебя с головой не в порядке? ~ are you out of your mind?)
не все дома (knock-knock (or tap-tap) on the head: anyone home?)
шарики за ролики заехали
с тараканами в голове (not quite a psyco but having some oddities)
Same for с загонами (<= загоняться, make a big deal/big problem out of nothing)
All these are pretty mild, often used jokingly and/or about yourself, or between friends.
More negative: придурок, идиот, дебил, даун, имбецил.
Can't think of any interesting slang for physical disabilities. If they are referred to, it's mostly just regular names, such as слепой, глухой, безрукий (can also mean "clumsy"), калека...
Oh, here's one: калич <= калека, means someone who can't perform simple tasks due to being clumsy, stupid, good for nothing. Rather mild again, and very colloquial.
>But it's interesting that you mention the mentally disabled, for example, were highly regarded in the Russian Empire. What changed? Was there something about the USSR that made society shun its disabled members?
World outlook is what changed, from religious to scientific. And it started long before 1917. I did say about 2 or 3 centuries, didn't I?
For the record: the life of disabled in pre-industrial times was never good, whatever the religious attitude. The yurodivys were beggars, basically. They were thought of as "people of God", thus no real help, no homes, no medication. If they suffer, it makes them more saint. If they die, they go to heaven.
And even if you think about the mentally disabled as saints it doesn't mean you really like them, or think of them as peers, or would admit them into your life on regular basis.
The most famous picture of a yurodivy in Russian art: http://www.anaharsis.ru/semiot/art_m/image/Surik02/s39.jpg
I'm not familiar with the history of speciallised institutions for the disabled, but the first sign language school in Russia was built in 1806. If you regard disability as God's blessing, you don't try to do anything about it.
hope it's not off-topic yet
Date: 2011-04-14 08:54 pm (UTC)The USSR official ideology was very optimistic, positive, enthusiastic. Negative attitude was banned, there's nothing to be unhappy about in our new ideal society. All the potentially disturbing matters were to be hidden and forgotten. So people were not exactly thinking bad about the disabled, they were mostly not thinking about them at all. Physical disability, of course, was visible and in a way "normal", what with the WW1, civil war, and WW2; but mental disability was not a topic of general interest. I guess, for most people it was someone else's problem, and probably taken care of.
Now, again, the attitude is not exactly hostile, more like awkward. Most people just have no idea of how to react to disability, as if they think that disabled should stay at their homes rather than spoil the scenery.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 02:54 am (UTC)Scroll down to the end of the post, to the second update. It has the same text in both English and Russian with many terms for different disabilities.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 06:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 08:17 pm (UTC)some disabilities
Date: 2011-04-16 06:42 pm (UTC)умалишённый, сумасшедший, безумный = lunatic.
горбатый = humpbacked; there is a very common russian proverb "горбатого могила исправит".
хромоножка - lame (not only woman! one can say "he is хромоножка / его сын хромоножка") (Хромоножка is the character in Dostoevsky's "Besy/Demons").
there are also a compound adjective "слепоглухонемой" and a proverb that parents say to their children: "когда я ем, я глух и нем" (i'm deaf and dumb while eating).
+ a very common expression "без [чего-либо] - как без рук" (to be helpless without something).
you can also see "A hero of our time" by Lermontov, chapter "Taman".
Я засветил серную спичку и поднес ее к носу мальчика: она озарила два белые глаза. Он был слепой, совершенно слепой от природы.
Признаюсь (stressed [а]), я имею сильное предубеждение против всех слепых, кривых, глухих, немых, безногих, безруких, горбатых и проч[ее]. Я замечал, что всегда есть какое-то странное отношение [=связь, зависимость] между наружностью (=внешностью, обликом) человека и его душою: как будто с потерею члена (=части тела) душа теряет какое-нибудь чувство.
Итак, я начал рассматривать лицо слепого; но что прикажете прочитать на лице, у которого нет глаз?
no subject
Date: 2011-04-19 09:24 pm (UTC)I think it's the most popular diabled hero in russian leterature. Or may be second after the one mentioned in the first comment:)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-21 09:12 am (UTC)Ночью, на кладбище строгое,
Чуть только месяц взойдет,
Крошка, малютка безногая,
Пыльной дорогой ползет...
complete text here: http://avertinsky.narod.ru/info/lyric/074.htm