• 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