Intolerance speech in connection with national minorities` members that erupted during the 90s in the Balkans has gradually spread to all the minority groups in the society. Such a speech not only has mastered newspapers political columns but also has already expanded on the pages dedicated to culture, sports, medicine, crime and justice. In spite of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Union (EU) recommendations as well as frequent use of the term "politically correct", wide population in Serbia often use certain terms without paying attention and realising they could literary mean discrimination. Therefore, in public life and uttered by some experts it is not unusual to hear words such as diabetic, hemophiliac, junky, aids man, mentally retarded, handicapped...

Insisting on the political correctness already meets resistance of the part of the public, although opponents of the political correctness are frequent and do not know the real meaning of the term.

According to the Hutchinson Encyclopedia, the term political correctness refers to a set of liberal attitudes about education and society, and the terminology associated with them.

"To be politically correct is to be sensitive to unconscious racism and sexism as well as other forms of discrimination," states the Hutchinson Encyclopedia.

Public is still not completely aware of discrimination in public speech, although Serbia is the signatory of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms that gives precisely, in detail, the way one should behave towards special and health groups, starting with what their rights are and the way they should realise them and ending with terms that should be used.

Dr. Marko Sekulic, the Novo Nordisk Manager, the leading world company for insulin production, says that in the world, especially in Europe, the term diabetics used for the people diseased with diabetes has long been forgotten and considered as an unacceptable one.

"If a person becomes ill with diabetes it does not mean he/she needs additional labelling that could single him/her out of the rest of population. This goes for both mental health and continuation of normal life. Diabetes is a serious condition of organism. Therefore, an ill person is forced to lead different kind of life and thus should not be quantified as a member of a special group. Although the term `person with diabetes` has long ago been accepted by majority of the world professional public, not so rare is the case that even professionals and qualified individuals use the term `diabetic`. Not to mention media," explains Dr. Sekulic adding that mostly speakers and article writers do not pay attention on political correctness of terms they use.

In the Convention it is stated that the adults with reduced capabilities are in poor conditions for their reduced capabilities and therefore can easily be abused. Hence, in the Preamble, and especially in the Principle 1, it is stressed that respecting dignity of every person as a human being is the principle above any other.

The Principle 1 also requires for laws, procedures and practices referring to protection of adults with reduced capabilities to be based on protection of their human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as persons who get sick with different illnesses.

Danijela Helc, the Union Health Centre`s speech therapist and neuropsychologist dealing with children development disorders says that the very word `defect` is the one avoided in use.

"Individuals with special needs, individuals with development disorders, those who get sick with certain illnesses, persons with diminished mental capabilities - in all these cases any qualifier that could discriminate a person in any way is avoided. This is especially important if by using an unsuitable term one could hurt human rights of both a person in question and his/her family, especially parents. First we have to learn to use literary politically correct speech and realise we could hurt the feelings of such people by using imprecise terms," points out Helc and adds that this is necessary precondition for needed integration of these people into regular schools and society.

Politically correct speech problem is especially perceived in some European countries although the public opinion consciousness in those countries is more pronounced and it is practically impossible for the politically incorrect speech to be unnoticed and without reaction. Therefore, for example, the former British Home Office Minister John Denham speaking at a conference in May 2002 used the term "nitty-gritty" trying to explain the essence of the problem the discussion was about.

This phrase originates from the American slang and depicts deeper foundation, essence and core of an event or object. However, only several hours later, accusations for racism have been brought since some linguists have connected etymologically of the term "nitty-gritty" with the trash that was located in the lower decks of the ships bringing slaves from Africa to America. In an extensive public debate, that ensued shortly, established was the fact that the English language had been located in the minefield of political incorrectness.

Also, in the list of politically incorrect terms for years has been "mental retardation" that has been replaced in Great Britain with the phrase "learning disability." Therefore, in scientific and professional publications that deal with mental retardation real terminology confusion has been created thanks to some authors who use the "reading difficulties" phrase for denominating development dyslexia, development dyscalculia and similar, while the others the same problem describe with euphemism for mental retardation.

However, while the same term has pejorative meaning in one language it does not necessarily have any negative connotation in some other language or different culture. Therefore, for example, political correctness in Germany is mainly going in for the area of ethnical and racial affiliation while sex discrimination is avoided by the existence of derivative suffix for certain occupations in feminine gender.

Having in mind that the English language does not have such suffixes, the issue of the sex discrimination in speech is actual. In Serbia, the phrase "mental retardation" is still in use while individuals with under average intellectual capabilities are not denoted as mentally retarded but as persons with mental retardation. Consistent use of such denotation often ruins stylistic characteristics of a text and makes speech excessively formal and long.

In such cases it is desirable to opt for phrase that has been accepted in international publications although its use in English language makes similar problems. If we add to all this that in Serbia we have still been fighting about whether the gender equality should be respected regarding occupations or the women`s callings should be written before or after their names in male gender, it is clear that, talking in terminological sense and meaning, we still have to learn a lot on human rights.