The Americans with Disabilities Act, other laws and the efforts of many disability organizations
have made strides in improving accessibility in buildings, increasing access to education, opening
employment opportunities and developing realistic portrayals of persons with disabilities in
television programming and motion pictures. Where progress is still needed is in communication and
interaction with people with disabilities. Individuals are sometimes concerned that they will say
the wrong thing, so they say nothing at all-thus further segregating people with disabilities.
Listed here are some suggestions on how to relate to and communicate with and about people with
disabilities.
Communicating About People with Disabilities
Positive language empowers. When writing or speaking about people with disabilities, it is
important to put the person first. Group designations such as "the blind," "the retarded" or
"the disabled" are inappropriate because they do not reflect the individuality, equality or
dignity of people with disabilities. Further, words like "normal person" imply that the person
with a disability isn't normal, whereas "person without a disability" is descriptive but not
negative. The accompanying chart shows examples of positive and negative phrases.
|
person with an intellectual, cognitive, developmental
disability |
retarded; mentally defective |
|
person who is blind, person who is visually
impaired |
the blind |
|
person with a disability |
the disabled; handicapped |
|
person who is deaf |
the deaf; deaf and dumb |
|
person who is hard of hearing |
suffers a hearing loss |
|
person who has multiple sclerosis |
afflicted by MS |
|
person with cerebral palsy |
CP victim |
|
person with epilepsy, person with
seizure
disorder |
epileptic |
|
person who uses a wheelchair |
confined or restricted to a wheelchair |
|
person who has muscular dystrophy |
stricken by MD |
|
person with a physical disability, physically
disabled |
crippled; lame; deformed |
|
unable to speak, uses synthetic speech |
dumb; mute |
|
person with psychiatric disability |
crazy; nuts |
|
person who is successful, productive |
has overcome his/her disability; is courageous (when it
implies the person has courage because of having a disability) |
NOTE: Remember, appropriate terminology changes with the times
and people's preferences
may vary. If in doubt, ask. Most people with
disabilities will be willing to help you.
Communicating with People with Disabilities
- When introduced to a person with a disability, it is appropriate to offer to
shake hands. People with limited hand use or who wear an artificial limb can
usually shake hands. (Shaking hands with the left hand is an acceptable greeting.)
- If you offer assistance, wait until the
offer is accepted. Then listen to or ask
for instructions.
- Treat adults as adults. Address people who
have disabilities by their first names only
when extending the same familiarity to all
others.
- Relax. Don't be embarrassed if you happen
to use common expressions such as "See
you later," or "Did you hear about
that?" that seem to relate to a person's
disability.
- Don't be afraid to ask questions when you're unsure of what to do.
Taken from the U.S. Department of Labor, Office
of Disability Employment Policy website:
http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/fact/comucate.htm#content January 23 2004
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