Disability, Language, and Identity: Explanation of Terminology in This Course
The Evolution of Disability Language
Language constantly evolves, and language that people use to communicate about disability is no exception. Understandably, people have strong perspectives when it comes to describing their identities. 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 to honor those perspectives, choosing respect and inclusion when communicating about and with disabled people.
Disability rights movements developed a national presence in the 1970s and contributed to a broader movement in the 1980s that focused on the use of person-first language (PFL). When communicating about a disability or health condition, PFL emphasizes personhood, with a modifier describing a person’s disability- or health-related identity that follows. However, by the start of the 21st century, many people were choosing and advocating for identity-first language (IFL) for disability-related identities. IFL places the disability name as an adjective that occurs before 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
While the ideal approach involves asking individuals how they want to be identified and employing 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 for guidance. However, style guides and recommendations for how to use respectful and inclusive language when writing about people with disabilities exist. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Style Guide informs this course’s language choices. Please note: We wrote this paragraph in 2024, and depending on when you find 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 to ensure 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 the intended audience's preference, 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." ↵
