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Disability Language Guide for Respect

The PWDA Disability Language Guide emphasizes the importance of respectful language when referring to people with disabilities, as it can significantly impact their perception and inclusion in society. It advocates for the use of person-first language and encourages individuals to ask for preferred terminology, while highlighting the negative effects of disempowering language. The guide promotes a social model of disability, focusing on societal barriers rather than individual impairments.

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7 views1 page

Disability Language Guide for Respect

The PWDA Disability Language Guide emphasizes the importance of respectful language when referring to people with disabilities, as it can significantly impact their perception and inclusion in society. It advocates for the use of person-first language and encourages individuals to ask for preferred terminology, while highlighting the negative effects of disempowering language. The guide promotes a social model of disability, focusing on societal barriers rather than individual impairments.

Uploaded by

jogjabikinbaper1
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

PWDA Disability Language Guide

THERESE SANDS: Language matters for people with disability. The words you use about us
can hurt or support. People with Disability Australia have put together this guide to help you
with finding the right words.
BEN CROMPTON: Your choice of language has an impact on the way people with disability
feel and are perceived in society. It is important that you're aware of the meaning behind
the words you use when talking to, referring to, or working with people with disability.
Disrespectful language can make people feel hurt, excluded and can be a barrier to full
participation in society.
THERESE: Language shapes the way we view the world. The words we use influence
community attitudes both positively and negatively, and impacts on the lives of others.
BEN: How we write and speak about people with disability can have a profound effect on
the way they are viewed by the community and themselves. Some words by their very
nature, degrade and diminish people with disability. Other words perpetuate inaccurate
stereotypes.
THERESE: PWDA ensures that a social model of disability is presented in all written work and
all verbal communication. This includes referring to people with disability rather than
people with disabilities, as well as women with disability, and children with disability. We
use the term 'people with disability'. But some communities prefer to use 'disabled people',
particularly autistic and deaf communities. Always ask what a person with disability prefers
and use that language.
BEN: Your choice of language affects people's lives. People with disability spend a lot of time
being described in ways which are disempowering, discriminatory, degrading and offensive.
Negative words such as victim or sufferer reinforce stereotypes that people with disability
are unhappy about their lives, wish they were normal, or should be viewed as an object of
pity.
THERESE: The reality contradicts these outdated stereotypes. People with disability are
people first who have families, work and participate in community activities. People with
disability should not be referred to in a simplistic, one-dimensional manner. People with
disability want respect and acceptance.
BEN: We use the social model of disability that says it isn't the person's impairment or
medical condition but society that disables them, negative attitudes, inaccessible buildings
and environments, inaccessible communications and information which prevent people with
disability from being treated equally and fully participating in all aspects of community life.
English

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