People first language is a linguistic concept related to political correctness which has been proposed by several organizations representing people with disabilities. The basic idea is to replace, e.g., "disabled people" with "people with disabilities", "deaf people" with "people who are deaf", etc., thus emphasizing that they are people first (hence the concept's name) and anything else second. Further, the concept favors the use of "having" rather than "being", as in "she has a learning disability" instead of "she is learning-disabled". The rationale behind people-first language is that it supposedly recognizes that someone is a person, a human being, or a citizen first, and that the disability is a part, but not all of them. Thus, it asks for one to respect the disabled community as first and foremost a community of people. It is also supposed to confirm the right of the concerned group to define themselves and choose their own name. Since the late 1980s, people-first language has gained considerable acceptance with "people with disabilities" as well as professionals working with them or people otherwise interested in the topic. Adherence to the rules of people-first language has become a requirement in some academic journals. By extension, "people first" is a common part of the names of organizations representing people with disabilities in the United States and internationally. Critics have objected that people-first language is awkward, repetitive and makes for tiresome writing and reading. Also, there is no tangible evidence for any of its proclaimed political benefits nor for the assumption that a majority of the concerned actually prefer it. C. Edwin Vaughan, a sociologist and longtime activist for the blind, argues that since "in common usage positive pronouns usually precede nouns", "the awkwardness of the preferred language focuses on the disability in a new and potentially negative way". Thus, according to Vaughan, it only serves to "focus on disability in an ungainly new way" and "calls attention to a person as having some type of 'marred identity'" in terms of Erving Goffman's theory of identity. [1]
Examples of people-first language
| proposed usage | conventional usage |
|---|---|
| People with disabilities | The handicapped or disabled |
| Paul has a cognitive disability (diagnosis). | Paul is mentally retarded. |
| Kate has autism (or a diagnosis of...). | Kate is autistic. |
| Ryan has Down syndrome (or a diagnosis of...). | Ryan is Down’s; a Down's person; mongoloid. |
| Sara has a learning disability (diagnosis). | Sara is learning disabled. |
| Mary is of short stature/she’s a little person. | Mary is a dwarf/midget. |
| Bob has a physical disability (diagnosis). | Bob is a quadriplegic/is crippled. |
| Tom has a mental health condition. | Tom is emotionally disturbed/mentally ill. |
| Nora uses a wheelchair/mobility chair. | Nora is confined to/is wheelchair bound. |
| Steve receives special ed services. | Steve is in special ed; he's a sped student. |
| Tonya has a developmental delay. | Tonya is developmentally delayed. |
| children without disabilities | normal/healthy/typical children |
| ... communicates with her eyes/device/etc. | ... is non-verbal. |
| customer | client, consumer, recipient, etc. |
| congenital defect | birth defect |
| brain injury | brain damage |
| accessible parking, hotel room, etc. | handicapped parking, hotel room, etc. |
| She needs ... or she uses ... | She has problems/special needs. |
References
- Disability is Natural
- C. Edwin Vaughan: "People-First Language: An Unholy Crusade" [2]
- Jan La Forge: "Preferred language practice in professional rehabilitation journals." The Journal of Rehabilitation, 57 (1):49-51. (January, February, March)
