Language is a crucial tool for fostering diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The following terms are published in “The Inclusive Language Handbook: A Guide to Better Communication & Transformational Leadership” by Jackie Ferguson and Roxanne Bellamy. For more, see the Administration Equity Council's EDI Glossary of Terms.
| Not Inclusive | More Inclusive | Here’s Why |
|---|---|---|
| Birth Defect | Person with a congenital disability Person with a birth anomaly
| The word defect implies a person is broken or somehow incomplete. |
The Blind
| Person who is blind or vision impaired Person who is Deaf or hard of hearing
| These non-inclusive terms align identity only with the person’s condition or impairment. Put the person first.
|
CP Victim
Spastic Spaz | Person with cerebral palsy
Person with spastic cerebral palsy
| Using these terms is offensive. Non-inclusive terms imply that people with cerebral palsy are not normal. |
Dumb Mute Deaf-mute | Person who cannot speak, had difficulty speaking, uses synthetic speech, is nonvocal, or is nonverbal | The terms dumb and mute were once widely used to describe people who could not speak; deaf-mute was used to refer to people who could neither speak nor hear. These imply that people are incapable of expressing themselves. However, people living with speech and hearing disabilities are capable of expressing themselves in many ways.
|
| Epileptic | Person with epilepsy Person with a seizure disorder
| Acknowledge that the individual lives with a condition but is not defined by it.
|
Handicapped Disabled Crippled Suffers from Afflicted with Victim of Invalid Lame Deformed | Person with a disability Person with disabilities A person who uses leg braces, a person in a wheelchair, a person with Autism, etc. | These non-inclusive terms imply that people with disabilities are not capable. Instead, acknowledge the disability, but do not use it to define someone. The terms handicap and handicapped have fallen out of favor in all uses relating to physical and mental disabilities. While not as offensive as some terms, it is also not preferable to use the words disabled or impaired. |
| Handicapped parking | Accessible parking Parking for people with disabilities
| These inclusive terms help you replace the non-inclusive term handicapped. |
| Normal person | It is never appropriate to use this phrase to describe a person.
| The term normal implies that other people are abnormal. |
| Paraplegic/ Quadriplegic | Person with a spinal cord injury Person with paraplegia Person who is paralyzed | Like so many other terms for physical conditions, these non-inclusive terms generalize the population and minimize personhood. Acknowledge the person first.
|
Wheelchair bound Confined or restricted to a wheelchair | Person who uses a wheelchair Wheelchair user | The inclusive terms acknowledge that the person may use a wheelchair as a tool but is not confined, bound, or restricted to it. |
| Lame | Boring, unexciting, uncool | You can easily describe something that is not engaging in a number of ways that don’t make a negative reference to disability.
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