The National Easter Seal Society advises us to eliminate certain words and phrases from our vocabulary and to replace them with positive, nonjudgmental terms:
- Eliminate. Victim, cripple, afflicted with or by, and invalid—which connotes “not valid.”
- Replace with. The person with a disability or, more specifically, the person with … or the person who has ….
- Don’t say. Unfortunate, pitiful, poor, dumb (as in mute), deformed, blind as a bat. These terms are stereotypical, judgmental, and downright vulgar.
- Say: Uses a wheelchair instead of wheelchair bound or confined to a wheelchair. Employed in the home is better than homebound employment, when referring to people who must work at home.
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