Words to Lose vs. Words to Use

Special Needs Blog

February 3, 2019
Tim Witte
Special Needs

When describing a person who has a disability, the descriptors we choose can be thoughtful or hurtful. Here are some more thoughtful alternatives to use when describing a disability:

Words to Lose	Words to Use
crippled, spastic, gimp	cerebral palsy, paraplegia, physical disability
autistic	has autism or an ASD
handicap	disability
insane, crazy, cray	has a psychiatric disability
wheelchair-bound or confined	uses a wheelchair
stricken, victim, suffering from	had or has a disability
mentally challenged	has an intellectual disability

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