People First Language

People first language: people are people first and foremost. Let’s show respect and consideration by using people first language.

Affirming Language	Diminishing Language
person with a disability	the disabled; handicapped; cripple; differently abled; special needs; afflicted with a disability, suffers a disability
non-disabled person	able bodied person
person experiencing a drug/alcohol problem; person with an addiction	addict
person recovering from an addiction	recovering addict
person who tested positive for drugs	dirty vs. clean
person with albinism	albino
person who has bipolar disorder	a bipolar
person with a brain injury	brain damaged; a brain injury
person who is comatose or non-responsive	a vegetable; veg
person who uses a wheelchair	wheelchair bound; confined to a wheelchair
person who has paraplegia	a paraplegic; a para
person who has tetraplegia	a tetraplegic; a quad
person who is blind or who has low vision	the blind
service animal / assistance animal / guide dog	seeing eye dog
person who is deaf	the deaf; the deaf and dumb
person who is hard of hearing	the deaf
person with mental illness	the mentally ill; crazy; insane
person who has bipolar disorder	a bipolar
person living with schizophrenia	a schizophrenic
person with a seizure disorder	epileptic; had a fit
person living with chronic illness	striken with illness
person who is unable to speak	dumb; mute
person with cerebral palsy	cp victim; spastic
person with multiple sclerosis	afflicted by ms
person with chemical intolerance	chemophobic
person with a congenital disability	birth defect
person living with dementia	senile; demented
person living with dyslexia	a dyslexic
person with a learning disability	slow learner; learning disabled
died by suicide / killed himself / took her own life	committed suicide
attempted suicide	unsuccessful suicide attempt
comatose / non-responsive	a vegetable; veg
person who stutters	a stutterer; a stammerer
person with an intellectual disability or a cognitive disability	retarded; mentally defective
person with diabetes	a diabetic
person with a genetic condition	genetic disorder or defect
person who had a stroke	a stroke victim
accessible parking / accessible bus	handicapped parking spot/bus
person with Down syndrome	downs kid