Discarding Language that is Hurtful to Persons with Disabilities
By Sarah Daniel Jacob
May 2020 FEATURE
RESPECTFUL DISABILITY LANGUAGE (RDL) is concerned with the subtleties of the terminology used to refer to, or to communicate with persons with disabilities (PwDs). For example, a people-first approach shuns identification through disability, thus “people who are blind” is preferred to “blind people”; while an identity-first approach indicates that the disability forms a large part of the person’s identity. Ultimately, the choice of using either people-first or disability-first jargon is for the PwD to decide. But RDL extends beyond words...
Sarah Daniel Jacob
is a social media ethnographer who loves coffee, Star Wars, floorball and tennis. But ultimately, her passion for writing and comedy is undeniable. She’s basically a grammar nazi who loves making people laugh.
