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USING APPROPRIATE DISABILITY LANGUAGE LANGUAGE Language is continually evolving, including language related to people with disabilities. Staying current is important, not to show “politically correctness” but to communicate effectively and with respect. What you say and write may enhance the dignity of people with disabilities or may inadvertently reflect stereotypes and negative attitudes. Some words and phrases don’t recognize the broad range of capabilities of people with disabilities. They don’t need or want to be pitied, nor should they be labeled “courageous” or “special” because they accomplish daily activities or work. Also, people are sometimes concerned that they will say the wrong thing, so they say nothing at all – further segregating people with disabilities. “Handicap” and “disability” are not synonyms! Disability is a generic term for a condition which may affect a person’s mobility, hearing, vision, speech, or cognitive function (such as paraplegia, deafness, TBI). Handicap describes an environmental or attitudinal barrier (such as no ramp or elevator, information not available in Braille, negative stereotypes). Avoid referring to someone as their disability. For example, “person who uses a wheelchair” or “man with epilepsy” is preferred over “wheelchair person” or “the epileptic”, which define the person as a disability rather than as one aspect of their life. However, some individuals self-identify their group as “the blind” or “the Deaf.” Also, many people prefer to use “people first” language (“person with a disability,” rather than “disabled person”). Ask people which term they would prefer. Common words and phrases are okay to use. For example, it’s fine to say “see you later” to a blind person, or “want to go for a walk?” to a wheelchair user. Mention a disability only when it is relevant to the discussion. Also, when talking with a person who has a disability, look at and speak directly to that person rather than to a companion, aide, or sign language interpreter. Do not make personal inquiries about the person’s disability, such as what happened? what’s wrong with you? how did you become disabled? how fast does that wheelchair go? why do you have a service animal? King County Civil Rights, Office of Equity and Social Justice (Seattle, WA) WHEN REFERRING TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES, CHOOSE WORDS THAT REFLECT DIGNITY AND RESPECT, SUCH AS: INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE APPROPRIATE LANGUAGE impairment, physically challenged, differently abled, handicapable, impaired, crippled, suffers from, afflicted with, poor, deformed, stricken with, victim of, diseased, invalid, abnormal, defective, specially abled the disabled has a disability, is a person with a disability, woman who is physically disabled, person who walks with a cane, man who has a respiratory condition, is a person with AIDS, person with epilepsy, has a chronic health condition people with disabilities, the disability community (disabled is an adjective, not a noun) normal person, able-bodied, healthy, whole special, special needs handicap parking, disabled parking confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair bound, wheelchair person electric chair paraplegic, quadriplegic, crip, gimp, lame hearing impaired, hearing impairment visually impaired, visual impairment the blind, the deaf dumb, mute stutterer, tongue-tied cerebral palsy victim, cerebral palsied, spastic, a CP person the autistic epileptic fit, attack, spell dwarf, midget, vertically challenged birth defect, defective, deformed post-polio person, suffered from polio mentally ill, mentally/emotionally disturbed, crazy, nuts, insane, psycho, schizo, mental case, whacko manic-depressive retard, mental defective, moron, idiot, slow, dimwit, imbecile, Down’s person, Down’s Syndrome, Down Syndrome child, short bus, mongoloid, feeble-minded, special ed slow learner, retarded, ADHD person veg, vegetable non-disabled, person without disabilities, does not have a disability has specific needs, disability needs/requirements accessible parking, disability parking wheelchair user, person who uses a wheelchair (or scooter) wheelchair, power chair man with paraplegia, woman with paralysis, person with spinal cord injury, has a mobility disability, walks with difficulty, cannot walk deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, hearing loss, partially deaf has low vision, partially sighted, blind the blind community, the Deaf community person who does not speak, has difficulty speaking, uses synthetic speech, is non-vocal, is non-verbal person with a speech or communication disability person with cerebral palsy, person who has CP person on the autism spectrum, person with autism person with epilepsy, person with seizure disorder seizure, epileptic episode or event person of small stature / short stature; little person has a congenital disability, has had a disability since birth, was born with a disability person who had polio, person with post polio syndrome, polio survivor person with mental health issue or condition, psychiatric disability bipolar disorder person with an intellectual / cognitive / developmental disability, a person with Down syndrome has a learning disability, person with a learning disability, person with ADHD comatose, non-responsive