Language of disability

Talking about disabled people

Think about the words you use.

This list reflects the views of disabled people themselves. As you will see, the words in brackets are passive, victim words, whereas the words in bold respect disabled people as active individuals with control over their own lives.

Preferred words in bold (words to avoid in brackets)       

disabled people (the handicapped, the disabled)                             

has cerebral palsy (afflicted by, suffers from, victim of)             

wheelchair user (confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair-bound)

has a learning difficulty (mentally handicapped, subnormal)

disabled person (cripple, invalid)

person who has cerebral palsy (spastic) 

non-disabled (able-bodied)