Terminology

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When talking about people with disabilities, you should always use “people first” language.

This means you should say the words “person or people” first.

The disability should not be an adjective.

Image of two text bubbles with headings 'Say This' and 'Not This' respectively. The first text bubble has this list of phrases inside it 'People with disabilties, Person with autism, Woman who is blind, Person with a mental health issue.' The second text bubble has a second list of phrases inside it 'Disabled people, Autistic person, Blind woman, Mentally ill person.'

Note that PWD is sometimes used in the literature for Person With a Disability. We use this abbreviation here in this Guide to streamline the text, but you would not use this term in conversation.