Identity-first language refers to when a person's disability identity is placed prior to a noun referring to their personhood in a sentence.

Example: Saying "disabled person" rather than "a person with a disability"

Identity-First Language

Arranging a sentence so as to put the noun referring to a person before the affliction, disease, or disability.
Example: saying "person with a disability" rather than "disabled person"

Person-First Language

This law changed the language that referred to people with disabilities in multiple pieces of federal legislation to reflect more inclusive terminology. 

Rosas Law (Pub. L. 111-256)

People that view disability from an educational perspective often see people with disabilities as needing assistance to become more like the rest of “us”. The problem with this view is that it promotes low expectations of people with disabilities, and assumes unequal relationships.This philosophy also assumes successful people with disabilities are heroic , inspirational, role-models, and/or courageous. 

Educational model of demeaning disability-friendly terminology

The medical model promotes the image of people with disabilities as needing health care or as “sick”. While many people with disabilities do have a predisposition for certain medical conditions, this does not mean they are always sick. Many people with the philosophy of the medical model underestimate the human capacity to learn about the complexities of the human body, and thus to make safe decisions about one’s disability.


Medical model of demeaning disability-friendly terminology

* Out-dated langage: Dumb, Invalid 


* Respectful language: Blind/Visually Impaired, Person who is blind/visually impaired 

Appropriate Terms for Blind or Visually Impairment 

* Out-dated langage: Invalid, Deaf-and-Dumb, Deaf-Mute


* Respectful language: Deaf or Hard-of-hearing, Person who is deaf or hard of hearing 


Appropriate Terms for Deaf or Hearing Impairment 

* Out-dated langage: Dumb, “One who talks bad"


* Respectful language: Person with a speech / communication disability

Appropriate Terms for Speech/Communication Disability

* Out-dated langage: Retarded, Slow, BrainDamaged, “Special ed” 


* Respectful language:  Person with a learning or cognitive disability

Appropriate Terms for Learning Disability 

* Out-dated langage: Hyper-sensitive, Psycho, Crazy, Insane, Wacko, Nuts

* Respectful language: Person with a psychiatric disability, Person with a mental health disability

Appropriate Terms for Mental Health Disability 

* Out-dated langage: Handicapped, Physically Challenged, “Special,” Deformed, Cripple, Gimp, Spastic, Spaz, Wheelchairbound, Lame


* Respectful language: Wheelchair user, Person with a mobility or physical disability 



Appropriate Terms for Mobility/Physical Disability

* Out-dated langage:  Retard, Mentally retarded, “Special ed”


* Respectful language: Person with a cognitive/developmental disability

Appropriate Terms for Cognitive Disability

* Out-dated langage:  Dwarf, Midget 


* Respectful language: Someone of short stature

Appropriate Terms for Short Stature, Dwarfism

 * Out-dated langage: Victim, Someone “stricken with” a disability (i.e. “someone stricken with cancer” or “an AIDS victim”


* Respectful language: Survivor, Someone “living with” a specific disability (i.e.
“someone living with cancer or AIDS”) 

Appropriate Terms for Medical Disabilities/Health Conditions

Psychologists are obligated to develop and maintain competency levels of disability land its language usage as well as those impacted by it.

Role of Psychologists in using disability language

~ The person is always put before the disability (Ex: Person WITH a disability)
~ Groups are individualized (Ex: People with disabilities)
~ Advocated to be used by the APA
~Highly Prevalent in academic and professional settings within the United States

Person First Language

~ Disability or a particular disability is the main focus.
~ Promoted by activists and authors.
~ Linked to disability culture.
~ APA recommends using identity-first language to both characterize disability and in reference to those with disabilities.


Identity First Language

In a survey of 728 autistic individuals/individuals with autism and autistic community stakeholders (allistics including: parents, family members, friends, professionals, and those with no interaction with autistic individuals) it was found autistic adults preferred to self-identify with identity first-language with 87% of surveyed autistic adults preferring identityfirst language. Whereas, professionals, allistic friends, allistic non-parent family members, and individuals with no connection to an autistic individual preferred to use person-first language for autistic individuals/individuals with autism.

However since a significant minority of individuals with autism preferred person first language  (13%) it is still suggestedpeople ask what an individuals preference is. 

Person First and Identity First Language for Autistic Individuals/Individuals with Autism

Language choices carry social, cognitive, and emotional weight. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (2005) explains how language affects perception, with social context and cognition influencing each other. This theoretical foundation is essential because the perception and attitudes toward disabled people are directly influenced by terminology, often through stigmatizing language and objectifying labels.

Summary of #SaytheWord: A Disability Culture Commentary on the Erasure of “Disability”

The language and terminology that those within a certain disability group generally prefer. For example, many Deaf individuals prefer to be called "Deaf" or "hard of hearing" rather than "hearing impaired" or "a person who is deaf"

Pepperdine University

The differences in norms, lifestyles, and social identities, propagated among disabled individuals. It often forms as a reaction toward past and present attitudes towards disabled communities. It promotes connection, camaraderie, and a shared purpose among those in the community. It also includes a motivation for people with disabilities to address their own civil, social, political, and economic needs

Disability Culture

American Psychological Association. (2021, August). Disability. APA Style. https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/bias-free-language/disability

Disability APA Style

The degree to which an individual culture, be it national, religious, class, education level, or otherwise, has a positive or negative (inclusive or exclusive) response to disabled individuals within their culture. 

Public Attitude Toward Disability

Disability Language

Captioning is the process of displaying text while a video is being played. Typically, the text will be a transcription of the video's audio, noting who is speaking along with sound effects and important musical cues. This helps to make films, television shows, and other video recordings accessible to those who are hard of hearing or deaf.

Captioning

Although the sexual behavior of those with disabilities is often stigmatized or ignored by the public, studies have shown that those with disabilities generally still experience the same physical, sexual, and romantic desires that those without disabilities experience.

Disability and Sexuality

Audio Description is the process of narrating certain actions or details that are normally seen visually, such as what a character is wearing. This process is often provided with films, television shows, stage plays, museums to accommodate people with visual impairments. It is often provided via an alternate audio track on a DVD or a handheld audio player.

Audio Description

Working within disability studies and towards more inclusive educational opportunities requires both humility and immense activism. It is important to acknowledge the work is frequently going to be challenged. 

Public Attitude within the work of Disability 

The formation of an individual's disability identity relies on both social and psycholgocial factors related to acceptance and meaning/purpose. Thus, the development of this identity is dependant on interpersonal (social) and intrapersonal (psychological) awarness. 

Defining Disability Identity Development

Since most children with disabilities live into adulthood, a growing amount of research has been dedicated to analyzing the life course outcomes for these individuals. Studies show that while there are often more negative mental and physical health outcomes for individuals with disabilities, more and more people are experiencing similar life trajectories to their peers. This is due to similar opportunities with fulfilling age appropriate adult social roles and positive life experiences. 

Pathways Toward Positive Psychosocial Outcomes and Mental Health for Youth with Disabilities

Disability advocacy is defined as acting or speaking in ways that align with and protect the rights of people with disabilities. There are many different forms of advocacy and it can occur at multiple different levels. 

Defining Disability Advocacy 



People with disabilities can find it more difficult to eat healthy and be physically active. This might be due to: 
- A lack of healthy food choices.
- Difficulty with chewing or swallowing food, or its taste or texture.
- Medications that can contribute to weight gain, weight loss, and changes in appetite.
- Physical limitations that can reduce a person’s ability to exercise.
- Pain.
- A lack of energy.
- A lack of accessible environments (for example, sidewalks, parks, and exercise equipment) that can enable exercise.
- A lack of resources (for example, money, transportation, and social support from family, friends, neighbors, and community members).

Disability and Obesity

A major critique of the current disability studies discipline relates to its essentialist and binary approach to understanding disability and the subjective disability experience. 

Disability Studies and Intersectionality


A field created from the merger of Disability studies, Black studies, postcolonial studies, and feminist studies  that focuses on the lives of Black disabled people and the relationship between race and disability as systems of privilege and oppression. In particular, there is a focus on how disability has appeared among Black people, how disability has been treated and understood within Black communities, how blackness and disability have been discursively linked in various cultures, and how disability an be understood as an identity experience and political category that has been conceptualized, and approached differently by Black activists and intellectuals than it has been by white activists and how this difference proposes and alternative framework of viewing disability. 

Black Disability Studies

Disability Justice is a framework that was developed in the mid-2000s by disabled people of color, disabled queer people, and disabled queer people of color, including Patty Berne, Leroy Moore, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Mia Mingus and groups including Sins Invalid, the Disability Justice Collective, and Azola Story.

Disability Justice 

A subsection of disability studies theory, whose name was inspired by queer theory, that emphasizes creating a theoretical approach to disability that looks at how disability functions as an ideology, a paradigm, an epistemology, and a system of oppression in addition to an identity experience.

Crip Theory 

Engagement with disability as a social and political category and embodiment rather than as a solely personal or medical experience.

Disability Politics

- The disabled population has a large percentage of children, with one third being children. 
  - Many of these disabilities are preventable, but lack of access to healthcare makes treatment difficult, resulting in 65 percent of disabilities affecting children being preventable. 
  - Even more alarming is the research that 98 percent of children with disabilities in low-income countries (LICs) do not attend school.
- Ten percent of the world's population has a sensory, physical, or intellectual disability. 
- Once taking family members into account, about 25 percent of people in the world are impacted by disabilities.
- Two thirds of all people with disabilities live in LICs. Global disability is rapidly increasing, mainly due to population growth in less developed countries, and this further shows the alarming disparity of disabled populations across the world. 

Statistics of Disabilities Across the World

In 2009, ⅔+ of homeless adults had some disability or mental, substance abuse disorder. However, many adults who are diaabled and homeless qualify for SSI and or SSDI support, which would provide benefits that would help secure housing and get recipients necessary treatment. Though, despite being eligible, many people are homeless do not apply for SSI and SSDI Programs. There has been limited research on initiatives aimed at increasing access and benefits for people with disabilities who are homeless.

Disability and Homelessness

NLTS and NLTS-2 shows a matriculation of students with learning disabilities into postsecondary education rose from 11.4% in 1990 to 34.5% in 2005. These students’ success have been notably limited given a 70% dropout rate, lower GPAs, and enrollment in easier programs compared to their non-disabled counterparts.

Learning Disability and Postsecondary Education

-  the community is very supportive of members that are blind and deaf. 
- There is resources available to support deaf and blind individuals. 
- American sign language (ASL) or augmentative and alternative communication devices (AAC)- communication. 
- Diversity in the deaf community 
- Hearing aids or cochlear implants for hearing 
- sensory deprivation- natural reduction of natural stimuli involving lights or five senses. 
-Deaf and blind students can access deaf school systems and higher levels of education. 

American Deaf and Blind Culture

The relationship between sex and disability has been a subject of study for over two decades. Yet, there remains no clear consensus on how sex influences disability and through which mechanisms this influence occurs. Despite the well-documented higher prevalence of self-reported disability among women compared to men, the effect of sex on disability varies significantly depending on the measures used and the covariates considered. 

The Role of Sex on Disability

When discussing disability, the focus is usually on basic accommodations such as interpreting, captions, or ramps. However, accommodations alone cannot guarantee real access for individuals with disabilities. That's why educators and professionals in schools and related fields must educate students about disabilities, end negative stereotypes, and ensure accessibility for disabled individuals. The goal is to recognize disability as a part of diversity and culture rather than a medical condition based on diagnosis.

Disability Culture at Schools

This research presents real-life knowledge about the connections between disability, sexuality, and gender equality issues in different Asian countries. It looks at the experiences of women and LGBTIQ people with disabilities, and their rights and empowerment. The research aims to help local disabled persons’ organizations and NGOs use human rights laws and work together with academics and human rights advocates. 

Asian Disability Studies

Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects movement and muscle control. It occurs when the brain is damaged before birth, during birth, or in early childhood. This damage makes it difficult for the body to move smoothly and in coordination. Some people with cerebral palsy have trouble walking, while others need help with daily tasks like eating or talking. The condition does not get worse over time, but affects everyone differently. There is no cure, but therapy, treatments, and assistive devices can help people with cerebral palsy live full and independent lives.

Cerebral Palsy

According to the text, the majority of college students who have a disability use social media daily. The average time spent amounts to 3.4 hours a day, this high usage is consistent across different types of disabilities, revealing the trend of social media’s prominent role in the lives of those who participated in the study. Participants had on average 4.8 social media accounts. Approximately 36% used social media primarily for social interaction, 17% for information seeking, and 17% for entertainment.


Social Media Use Is Nearly Universal Among College Students with Disabilities


Students from the study who are labeled as having some kind of disability possessed a wide range in the number of social media accounts they held, some having one account, others having as many as thirteen social media accounts. On average, students maintained around five accounts, which indicates diverse engagement across platforms and does not provide any major insight into social media trends in disabled populations.

Number of Social Media Accounts Varies Widely


The study found that the majority of students they surveyed used social media mostly for social interaction purposes, information seeking and entertainment were secondary purposes. These uses emphasize the significance of human connection regardless of disability status and the importance of being able to access information in their daily lives.

Primary Purposes of Social Media Use Among Students with Disabilities


According to the study findings, the use of social media for educational purposes, such as course-related communication, is linked to stronger social connections and shows an improved readiness for careers. This conclusion suggests that academic use of social media can be beneficial in enhancing outcomes in students with disabilities' college careers.

Social Media Learning Positively Impacts Social Connectedness and Career Preparedness


Students who spend more overall time on social media, regardless of intention or purpose, claimed to experience a lack of social connectedness and overall had lower hope for future employment. It can be said that overuse of social media may hinder social and career development in students with disabilities.

Excessive Time on Social Media Negatively Affects Social Connectedness and Career Hope


Addiction to social media showed a correlation with higher GPA and greater social connectedness, but did not reflect higher preparedness for a career. This shows that the results of social media on students with disabilities are not black and white, there are both positive and negative impacts on the surveyed population. 

Social Media Addiction Shows Mixed Effects


Younger students had higher social media addiction as well as better academic and social outcomes. Female students reported higher hope for work success, suggesting demographic differences do influence experiences.

Demographics Impact Social Media Use and College Outcomes

Statistics show an increase in college enrollment, but in spite of this, the article states that students with disabilities graduate less often and face more obstacles to employment in comparison to other students. 

Students with Disabilities Face Lower Graduation Rates and Career Challenges


Social media use has different influences on academic, social, and career success in students with disabilities. Understanding how social media influences students with disabilities can allow for more effective support strategies to be put into place.

Social Media Use and Student Outcomes

Social media can assist students with disabilities in fostering connections and preparing them for their future careers when it is used for learning and networking purposes. Based on the study findings, spending an excessive amount of time on social media for fun or distractions is what leads to feelings of isolation. Encouraging students to use social media more moderately can help them reap more benefits instead of negatively impacting their mental health and career goals.

Social Media Use as a Tool for Empowerment

This systematic review explores invisible disabilities in higher education, focusing on students' disclosure decisions and their academic impacts. Students often choose not to disclose their invisible disabilities due to stigma and previous negative experiences, creating a paradox where "what is unseen does not exist." This non-disclosure leads to substantial academic and personal challenges for affected students. The research identifies common barriers these students face and examines factors that promote their academic success. Personal resilience and informal support networks play crucial roles in student outcomes. However, the review emphasizes that systemic institutional change is essential, particularly through inclusive teaching practices such as Universal Design for Learning and mandatory faculty training. These systemic approaches are necessary to transform risks into opportunities and ensure all students can thrive in higher education environments.

When what is unseen does not exist: disclosure, barriers and supports for students with invisible disabilities in higher education

This paper explores three studies that discuss how the timing of group-membership entry—whether a disability is congenital ("born that way") or acquired ("became that way")—influences stigma. This research uniquely compares judgments of people with congenital disability to those with acquired disability, a distinction largely unexamined in previous disability stigma research.

Stigma Towards Congenital Versus Acquired Disability

Using a singular case study design, this study, unravels the complexity and  in-depth the meaning of lived experiences of a single demarcated person from multiple perspectives, revealing the historical life story of a person with intellectual and physical disabilities in the context of the Nazi’s euthanasia practices.

A Case Study of Nazi’s Eugenic Practices

This study explores ​​how young Indian women with visible physical impairments in India’s metropolitan cities construct beauty, experience embodiment, and, most importantly, how they challenge received views on physical attractiveness. 

‘Disabled and beautiful’: young women’s negotiations of beauty and body ideals

This study explores research concerning the identities of professional artists with intellectual disabilities. This research was conducted to further our understanding of the intersections of the arts and identity affirmation within the intellectual disability community. Specific attention is paid to the voices of individuals with intellectual disabilities and the words they used to describe their own experiences.

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