Checklist: Preferred Terminology Guide  

The following terminology guide can help employers avoid negative phrases that may be offensive and, instead, use affirmative phrases to effectively communicate.

• Instead of "retarded" or "mentally defective", use: "person with mental retardation"
• Instead of "the blind", use "person who is blind" or "person who is visually impaired"
• Instead of "the disabled" or "handicapped", use "person with a disability" 
• Instead of "suffers a hearing loss" or "the deaf" use "person who is deaf" or "is hard of hearing" 
• Instead of "afflicted by MS", use "person who has multiple sclerosis"
• Instead of "CP victim", use "person with cerebral palsy"
• Instead of "epileptic", use "person with epilepsy" or  "person with seizure disorder"
• Instead of "confined" or "restricted to a wheelchair", use "person who uses a wheelchair" 
• Instead of "stricken by MD", use "person who has muscular dystrophy"
• Instead of "crippled" or "lame" or "deformed", use "physically disabled"
• Instead of "normal person" (implies that the person with a disability isn t normal), use "person without a disability"
• Instead of "dumb" or "mute", use "unable to speak" or  "uses synthetic speech" 
• Instead of "fit", use "seizure" 
• Instead of "has overcome a disability" or "courageous", use "successful" or "productive"
• Instead of "crazy" or "nuts", use "person with psychiatric disability"
• Instead of "admits she has a disability" use "says she has a disability"