PERSON FIRST LANGUAGE COMMUNICATING WITH AND ABOUT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Please note: All communication in this course will be conducted using Person- First language. You may notice that some of the articles and resources used do not use this language, and in some instances, this may be purposeful. However, in your assignments and activities for the course, it is essential that you begin practicing using Person-First language. Point deductions will be made beginning in Week 2 of the course for failure to use Person-First language. As the course proceeds, you will be introduced to the reasoning behind Person-First, but at this time, I wanted to introduce you to the overview of disability etiquette and Person-First language, so that you may begin incorporating this style of communication into your work for the course. I hope you’ll incorporate it into the rest of your lives as well. Following are some examples of the types of language to use and to avoid when communicating with and about people with disabilities.
USE AVOID Person with a disability / has a disability
People with disabilities / have disabilities
The disabled / the handicapped, invalids, patients, crippled, deformed, defective
People without disabilities typical person Normal, healthy, able-bodied
Wheelchair user / uses a wheelchair Wheelchair-bound / confined to a wheelchair
Congenital disability / birth anomaly Birth defect / affliction
Has cerebral palsy (CP) or other condition A victim of cerebral palsy
Has had polio / experienced polio has a disability as a result of polio
Suffers from polio / afflicted with polio post-polios (as a noun referring to people)
People who have an intellectual/developmental disability
Person with an intellectual or developmental disability or a person with IDD
Self-advocates
The mentally retarded / mentally deficient
A retardate / a retard
A feeble-minded person
Child with a developmental delay person with a developmental disability
Slow
Person with Down Syndrome or Trisomy 21 Downs kids/The Downs person / Mongoloid
(never)/Downs Syndrome (that is just incorrect)
Person who has epilepsy people with seizure
disorders seizure / epileptic episode or event
The epileptic (to describe a person) the epileptics
Fits / epileptic fits
People who have mental illnesses or person with a
mental or emotional disorder
The mentally ill, crazy, psycho, mental case
People who are blind / visually impaired
Person who is hard of hearing person who is deaf
The deaf (deafness is a cultural phenomenon and
should be capitalized in those instances.)
The blind
The hearing impaired (translates as “broken
hearing” in sign language) deaf-mute
Deaf and dumb
Speech or communication disability Tongue-tied, mute