Do not say or use | Do use or say |
Use images that isolate or call special attention to persons with disabilities unless appropriate to the subject matter | Use images that show persons with disabilities participating in society |
Use actors or models without disabilities to represent persons with disabilities | Use actors or models with disabilities to portray persons with disabilities |
Always depict the super-achieving individual to represent all persons with disabilities | Depict whenever possible, the typical individual who has a disability |
Aged (the), Elderly (the), Adjectives like frail, senile or feeble suggest a negative image of seniors and should not be used | Seniors |
Birth defect, congenital defect, deformity | |
Blind (the), Visually impaired (the) Confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair-bound |
Person who is blind, person with a visual impairment Person who uses a wheelchair, Wheelchair user for individuals with mobility impairment, a wheelchair is a means to get around independently, Person with a disability, person with a mobility impairment, person who has arthritis, a spinal cord injury, etc. |
Hard of hearing (the), hearing impaired | Person who is hard of hearing. These individuals are not deaf and may compensate for a hearing loss with an amplification device or system. |
Deaf-mute, deaf and dumb | Person who is deaf. Culturally-linguistic deaf people (that is, sign language users) are properly identified as "the Deaf" (upper-case "D"). People who do not use sign language are properly referred to as "the deaf" (lower-case "d") or "people who are deaf". |
Epileptic (the) | Person who has epilepsy. |
Fit, attack, spell | Seizure |
Handicapped (the) | Person with a disability, unless referring to an environmental attitudinal barrier. In such instances "person who is handicapped by" is appropriate. |
Handicapped parking, bathrooms | Accessible parking, bathrooms |
Insane
| Persons with a mental health disability, person who has schizophrenia, person who has depression. |
Invalid | Person with a disability. |
Learning disabled, learning disordered, the dyslexics | A person with a learning disability or persons with learning disabilities. |
Mentally retarded
| Person with an intellectual disability, person who is intellectually impaired. One can say a person with Down's Syndrome only if relevant to the story. |
Normal Normal is only acceptable in reference to statistics (i.e. the norm) | Person who is not disabled. |
Patient | Person with a disability. Unless the relationship being referred to is between a doctor and client. |
Physically challenged
| Person with a disability |
She/he has a problem with... | She/he has a need for... |
Spastic | Person who has spasms Spastic should never be used as a norm |
Suffers from
| Person with a disability, person who has cerebral palsy, etc. Having a disability is not synonymous with suffering. |
Victim of cerebal palsy, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, etc. | Person who has cerebal palsy, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, etc. Person with a disability. Person with a mobility impairment. |
One library tech's insight into the world of libraries - working the way up from top to bottom - on the way to take over the world!
Monday, August 23, 2010
A Way with words and images
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