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Disability Etiquette/Person First Terminology

Reference a person's disability only if it is relevant to this situation. Here's how:

Person First Term	Inappropriate Terms
person with a disability	disabled person,cripple, invalid, gimp, lame, handicapped, physically challenged, limited, differently-abled, handi-capable, victim, afflicted with, stricken, suffers from, special, has problems or special needs, limited, physical limitations, deformed, poor, unfortunate
person who is blind or is visually impaired	the blind
person who is deaf or hard of hearing	suffers a hearing loss
person with a disease or condition	victim, stricken by, afflicted by
person with an intellectual disability	retarded, mentally retarded, MR, slow, retardation, brain damaged
person with epilepsy or with seizure disorder	epileptic
person who uses a wheelchair	confined or restricted to a wheelchair,wheelchair bound, confined, or in a wheelchair
person without disabilities	normal person (implies person with a disability isn't normal), non disabled person
person who doesn’t use speech to communicate	non-verbal, dumb, mute
person with a physical disability	cripple, deformed, invalid, gimp, lame, handicapped, physically challenged, limited, deformed
person with a mental illness	crazy, insane, mental patient

Remember what is OK for some people may not be OK for others. If you are unsure, please ask the person how she or he describes himself or herself. When in doubt, call the person by his or her name.