You might have noticed in this story that I used the phrase “people with disabilities” a lot instead of using things we’re used to seeing or hearing more often like “handicapped” or “disabled.” You’ve also probably heard that phrase being used a lot more in the news and maybe at your schools.
You might also have asked, why? Is it so bad to say someone is disabled or talk about them by using their disability? Well, it depends on who you talk to but in recent years there’s been a big push to change the way we talk about disabilities, especially when we talk about disability communities and especially if you aren’t a member of that community.
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Detroit Disability Power (DDP), which helped me out a ton with this story, has a great tool kit all about the language we use and breaks it down to two kinds of ways to talk about people with disabilities: identity first and people-first language.
What is ableism?
First off, we should say that there is a word for discriminating against someone with a disability. That’s called ableist or ableism. It’s defined as discrimination in favor of able-bodied people.
Groups like DDP work to get people without disabilities to see the world is generally made without disability in mind and work to undo that kind of systemic ableism so everyone can have access to, well, pretty much everything.
Person-first and identity-first language
Ok, let’s talk about how to undo some of that in a really simple way.
Identity-first is putting the disability first, as a defining trait of the person or community you’re talking about. Think Deaf person or Autistic community. Actually, both of those groups, the Deaf and Autistic communities, have overwhelmingly said they prefer identity-first language.
The idea behind this is it puts a person’s disability front and center. To say it out loud and validate someone’s identity. It’s why identity-first language is sometimes called “proud language.”
People first or person-first language is when you put the person first. It’s the language I chose in the story and what you’re more likely to hear among a lot of other disability communities. This type of language puts the person before their disability in a way to emphasize their individuality without making their disability the center of who they are.
Language not to use
That being said, there are some things that aren’t used anymore. Maybe you grew up saying them. Maybe they’re still used in movies or on TV. Maybe you don’t mean any harm, but they’re still hurtful.
On top of that list is the “R word.” I’m not going to write it here. If you don’t know what I mean, look it up.
Now that that’s out of the way, what we’re really talking about here are phrases like “wheelchair bound,” “high or low functioning,” and “suffers from” language that shouldn’t be used. DDP says those phrases are negative spins on disabilities that reinforce stereotypes about what’s “normal” and what’s not while also ignoring the role ableism plays in daily life.
There are also phrases like “special needs” or “differently abled” which are euphemisms that take the person entirely out of their lived experience and serve as shields for those of us who might be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with disabilities.
Should you use identity-first or person-first language?
DDP’s tool kit says there isn’t a consensus on which way, people first or identity first, is better. When in doubt, it’s always best to listen to how a person with a disability talks about themselves or their community. If you’re still not sure, the easiest thing to do is ask. Even better, you should ask someone what their specific accessibility need is, instead of what their disability is.
People first is the language I use most of the time when doing these stories or just in my daily life, unless I notice or am told a disability community or person prefers identity first. I don’t get it right all the time. Even a few of the people I spoke to for this story said they don’t get it right all the time. But that’s not a reason not to try.
The whole point of changing the way we think about disability matters. Working to make sure we can help allow people agency in a world that often doesn’t have them in mind can go a long way, because just because you might not be a member of a disability community, people with disabilities are members of our collective community and we owe it to them and ourselves to treat everyone with respect.
If you want to know more, here’s a link to DDP’s tool kit to help you get started.