Photograph By:
Alex Lowy
Alex Lowy
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Learn the RIGHT vocabulary when speaking to and about people with disabilities:
(Disclaimer: This list is provided as a public service. Your help is needed to keep people
with cerebral palsy – or with other disabling conditions – from sounding
pitiful, inhuman or like beings from outer space. People with cerebral
palsy and other disabilities have the same rights as everyone else in this
world – the right to fall in love, to marry, to hold down a competitive
job, to acquire an adequate and appropriate education. Above all, they
have a right to self-esteem. Please ensure these rights by referring to
individuals in terms that acknowledge ability, merit and dignity.)
AFFLICTED – Very negative and a definite downer! Person who has or is affected by is much better.
CEREBRAL PALSIED – Sounds like an inanimate object instead of a person. Why not person or people with cerebral palsy?
C.P. – OK to describe the condition but NOT a person. This puts all people in a neat little package and deposits them in a file drawer. Please use who has or who have cerebral palsy when referring to people.
CONFINED TO A WHEELCHAIR – On the contrary, a wheelchair is the key to mobility for some people. Indeed, they are only "confined" when their wheelchairs break down. Better to say he or she "uses a wheelchair".
CRIPPLED OR CRIPPLER – This paints a mental picture no one wants to look at.
DISEASE – Cerebral palsy is NOT a disease. People with cerebral palsy are as healthy as anyone else. Better to say condition.
DRAIN AND BURDEN – We wouldn’t touch these two words with a 10-foot pole. Added responsibility is much better.
POOR – Physical handicaps have nothing to do with how wealthy someone is. Love and self-esteem are priceless qualities. A person’s character determines the richness of his or her life.
SUFFERS FROM – If someone with a disability is independent and copes with life as well as most of us, then this phrase definitely doesn’t apply.
UNFORTUNATE – What’s unfortunate is that this word is often used to describe people with physical disabilities. Don’t offend with this one.
VICTIM – A person with physical disabilities was neither sabotaged nor necessarily in a plane, train or car crash. There’s no way to rephrase this turkey.
WHEELCHAIRBOUND – Leaves the impression that the wheelchair user a better descriptive term – is glued to his or her transportation.