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Disability Etiquette
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THE LANGUAGE OF DISABILITY
HOW TO SPEAK AND WRITE ABOUT PERSON WITH DISABILITIES
 
Positive language empowers person with disabilities and reduced negative stereotypes pervade our society. When writing or speaking about persons with disabilities, always remember to put the person first. Following are some recommendations for use when speaking and writing.
  • Be accurate in describing disabilities. For example, a person who had polo and experience after-effects years later has a post-polio disability. They do not have a disease. A person with a disability should never be referred to as a "patient" or "case" unless his relationship with his doctor is the subject.
  • Emphasize abilities, not limitations. For example say, "Uses a wheelchair" or "walk with crutches" rather then "confined to a wheelchair, is wheelchair bound, or is cripple". Similarly, avoid use of inappropriate emotional desriptors such as "unfortunate" or "pitiful".
  • Unless a person's disability is the focal point of a story, place the emphasis on the individual, not on her disability. A disability is only one facet of the person and her life. In all case, keep the person's disability in proper perspective; do not unduly magnify its importance.
  • Portray successful people with disabilities as successful people, not as superhumans. Overstating the achievements of people with disabilities suggests that they are exceptions and most others with disabilities are not competent or are incapable of outstanding achievements in their own fields.
  • When reporting on people with disabilities, consider the broader implications of how quality-of-life issues like accessible transportation, housing, affordable health care, employment opportunities and discrimination impact a large and growing segment of the U.S. population.
  • When in doubt, always ask the person with the disability! The person with a disability is your best source for information.

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE

WHY IT’S NEGATIVE

Person with mental retardation; person who is blind who is visually impaired.

The retarded the blind

Sees people only in terms of the disability, implies a loss of individuality by lumping then into one category. The humanizing nouns in the positive examples emphasize the person.

Person with disability

The disabled, handicapped

 

Disformed

Misshapen

Hunchbacked

Sees people only in terms of the disability, implies a loss of individuality by lumping them into one category.

Connotes repulsive oddity

Demeaning.

Person who is deaf; person who is hearing impaired or hard of hearing

Suffers a hearing loss

Implies that the person is sick or afflicted. See the person. See the person as a victim.

Person who has multiple sclerosis

Afflicted by MS

Implies that the person is sick or afflicted. See the person as a victim.

Person with Cerebral Palsy

CP victim

Implies that the person is sick or afflicted. See the person as a victim.

Person who has muscular dystrophy

Stricken by MD

Implies that the person is sick or afflicted. See the person as a victim.

Person with mental retardation

Retarded, mentally defective

Demeaning

Person with epilepsy; person with seizure disorder

Epileptic, spazz, spastic, has fits

Demeaning

Seizure

Fit

Fit is an inaccurate and demeaning description of a physical event.

Person who used a wheelchair

Confined, restricted, or bound to a wheelchair

Creates a false impression: wheelchairs liberate, not confine or bind; they are mobility tools form which people transfer to sleep, sit in chair, dive, cars, etc.

Person without disabilities

Normal person

Implies that a person with a disability isn’t normal.

Physically disabled

Crippled, lame, deformed

Demeaning and dehumanizing.

Unable to speak, used synthetic speech

Dumb, mute

Implies a lack of mental capacity accompanies the inability to speak.

Successful, productive

Has over come his or her disability; courageous

Courageous should not be used when it implies the person has courage because of having a disability.

Person with a psychiatric disability, behavior disorder, emotional disability, mentally restored

Crazy, nuts, loony, insane, psycho, maniac, former mental patient

Outdated, stigmatizing, dehumanizing, and completely inappropriate

Person with mental impairments

Retard, slow, simple minded, idiot, mongoloid

Demeaning

Person who no longer lives in an institution

The deinstitutionalized

See the institution, not the person

Says she has a disability

Admits she has a disability

There is no need to “admit”, such a use implies that a disability is something to be ashamed of

Congenital disability

Abnormal birth defected defective

See people with disabilities as less than human. Describes an object, not a person

She has arthritis

She is an arthritic patient

 

He had polio

He was afflicted with stricken with, or suffers from polo

See someone as an object of medical care. Connotes helplessness, dependency, and defeat. Denies all of the other aspects of the person.

States the facts, she had polio

Victim

She was a polio victim

Connotes pitiful helplessness

None is needed

Invalid

From the same root as in Valid inaccurate, most persons with disabilities are not sickly

Deaf, hearing impaired, speech impaired

Deaf and dumb, deaf mute, dummy

Implies mental incapacitation occurs with hearing loss and/or speech impairment

Blind partially sighted vision impaired

Sightless, four eyes, blind as bat

Inaccurate, demeaning

He has a physical disability

Cripple, Crippled, Crip

No epithet is more offensive to persons with physical disabilities. From Old English “to creep” or “inferior”

Handel Had epilepsy Renoir was arthritic Geri Jewell has cerebral palsy

Handel was epileptic Renoir was arthritic Geri Jewell is cerebral palsied

These usages see people as their disabilities. Inaccurate reference; a person is not a condition.

Person of short stature little person

Midget, dwarf

Mythical, denies reality. Infantilizing, patronizing

Walks with a cane uses crutches Senator Dole has a disabled hand

Lame paralytic gimp, gimpy withered

All are demeaning

The child has multiple or significant disabilities

Monster vegetable creature freak

Robs person with significant disabilities

No term is needed, just omit the word

“Special”

Distancing and inappropriate, patronizing. Describes that which is different about any person.

A person has physical, sensory or mental disability

Physically challenged handi-capable inconvenienced differently abled

Euphemisms avoid reality and rob people of dignity.

Cutesy-pie labels are uninformative and trivialize an important part of person’s identity

Acknowledge the person’s abilities and individuality

Isn’t it wonderful how he has overcome his disability

Inaccurate’ People live with a disability, they have to overcome attitudinal, social, architectural, educational, transportation and employment barriers

The ultimate objective of all of these suggestions is to move our society to the point where disability status is only one variable in the full range of human experience. In other words, when thinking about people with disabilites, think about people first.

updated on 10/22/2008
 
TEST FROM SUPPORT.