Disability, Language, and Identity: Explanation of Terminology in This Course
The Evolution of Disability Language
Language constantly evolves, and language used to communicate about disability is no exception. Understandably, people have strong perspectives when it comes to their agency in how their identities are described. The extensive history of social stigma, discrimination, and exclusion expressed toward people with disabilities—practices that continue in various forms today—makes it especially important that we honor that agency, choosing respect and inclusion when communicating about and with disabled people. Disability rights movements that developed a national presence in the 1970s contributed to a broader movement in the 1980s to use what is called person-first language (PFL), in which communication about a disability or health condition was structured to emphasize personhood, with a modifier describing a person’s disability- or health-related identity occurring after. However, by the start of the 21st century, many people were choosing and advocating for identity-first language (IFL) for disability-related identities, in which the disability name is an adjective that occurs prior to the noun that names the person or community. The debate over PFL and IFL continues and has evolved in recent decades. [1]
How This Course Approaches Language and Terminology
Although the ideal approach is to ask individuals how they want to be identified and to employ the most common practice for a given community, there isn’t always consensus. And when writing a course like this one, there isn’t a direct audience from whom to take guidance. However, there are style guides and recommendations for how to use respectful and inclusive language when writing about people with disabilities. This course employs the guidance provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Style Guide to inform its language choices. It is important to note that this paragraph is being written in 2024; depending on when you are encountering this course, the language used here may no longer be current. Despite our best efforts, we also may have chosen inappropriate language in some places. We encourage future users of this material to make revisions that this resource continues to respect and reflect current language and terminology.
Deeper Dive
Perspectives and Resources Addressing Person-First and Identity-First Language
General Overviews
- Writing Respectfully: Person-First and Identity-First Language, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Person-First Language vs. Identity-First Language: An examination of the gains and drawbacks of Disability Language in society, Phillip Ferrigon, Journal of Teaching Disability Studies (JTDS)
- Ask a Self-Advocate: The Pros and Cons of Person-First and Identity-First Language, Jevon Okundaye, Massachusetts Advocates for Children
Writing and Style Guides
- Disabilities, NIH Style Guide
- Disability Language Style Guide, National Center on Disability and Journalism
- A Quick Style Guide for Writing Disability-Focused Content, Bureau of Internet Accessibility
Deaf Community Perspectives
- Community and Culture—Frequently Asked Questions, National Association of the Deaf
- [Requesting 1-2 additional resources for this section]
Autism Community Perspectives
- Identity-First Language,[2] Lydia Brown, Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)
- Person-First Language is the Language of Autistiphobic Bigots,[3] Nick Walker
- Note that we chose to use person-first and identity-first language interchangeably in this paragraph. Many advocates suggest this approach when the audience for the communication is broad, or there isn't a viable way to determine what the intended audience's preference would be (or if the audience's opinion is divided). ↵
- This article provides links to readings advocating for identity-first, person-first, and interchangeable usage perspectives. Notably, most of the person-first readings are dated enough that they are now housed on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Person-first language has fallen largely out of favor within the autism community, although it is still the official guidance given in many school districts. ↵
- While the title of this reading may seem polemical to some, it is an important item to include. Its author, Dr. Nick Walker, is considered a prominent scholar of the neurodiversity paradigm and is the originator of the term "neuroqueer." ↵
