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List of disability-related terms with negative connotations

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The following is a list of terms used to describe disabled people or disabilities, terms that may be considered negative or offensive by either disabled or non-disabled people.

There is a great deal of disagreement as to what should be considered offensive. Views vary with geography and culture, over time, and among individuals. Some of the terms, such as "retard," are deliberate insults; others, such as "wheelchair-bound," are inherently negative; still others, such as "Mongolism," are based on stereotypical ideas of certain disabled groups.

Many other terms' inclusion of this list can be disputed because they are highly interpretable. For example, some people consider the word "handicapped" to be derogatory, while others see it as a synonym for "disabled"; and it is still used by some disabled people. Certain disabled and non-disabled people are offended by such terms, while others are offended by the replacement of such terms with what they consider to be euphemisms (e.g., "differently abled"). Some people believe that terms should be avoided if they might offend people; others hold the listener responsible for misinterpreting terms used in a non-offensive context.

Finally, some disabled people are choosing to reclaim certain terms, using them to describe themselves with high-impact effect. Reclaiming a term gives it a positive meaning when used by the people it describes, but it is still considered a slur when used by others:

  • cripple used to mean "physically disabled person." Its shortened form "crip" is often used by firebrand disabled people as a term of endearment. See also the essay On Being a Cripple by Nancy Mairs.
  • Gimp used to refer to people with physical disabilities and, like crip, is being reclaimed for positive use among people with disabilities.
  • handicapped used to mean "disabled person", and handicap for "disability". It is unclear how often the term "handicapped" is still used by either the disabled or the able-bodied.
  • Joey, used as a derogatory term for someone with Cerebral Palsy (see Joey Deacon), is still an offensive term unused by any responsible party.
  • Lame refers to difficulty walking or moving. It is also a universally offensive term.
  • Mentally retarded or the noun "retard" used to describe someone with a learning disability, a significantly low IQ, or some other learning or developmental disability to describe their disability); these terms are still in use among some professionals, but the term "retard" as a vulgar term is not, unless it is deliberately used as a term of offense. Since there is no other connotation other than negative, it is always offensive.
  • Midget used to mean "dwarf." In its place, little person or short stature is now used.
  • "Mongol," "Mongoloid," or "Mongolism" for Down syndrome originated from the perception that facial features of people with Down syndrome were similar to those of people from Mongolia. The term is now not used.
  • "Schizo" or "Schizoid" for schizophrenia is still in wide use among the general population, as is "psycho" for psychosis.
  • "Slow" or Slow learner for someone with a learning disability has generally fallen out of favor but is still in use occasionally in certain contexts.
  • Spazz (or "Spaz," "Spazzy," "Spack," or "Spackhead") for someone with Cerebral Palsy used to be an alternative to spastic which was in turn an acceptable self-descriptive term used by people with CP themselves; however, the term is now unacceptable as it has come to be applied to the overall athletic population when a sports-player seems overly anxious or tightly-moving in sports. As the CP-affected population felt this was inappropriate, it stopped using the term in self-description (see the entry Scope (British charity).
  • Special Ed- could be interpreted as patronizing but is still fairly commonly used in the educational system.
  • "The Disabled," "The Blind" etc. instead of "people with disabilities", "people who are blind" etc can actually be seen by many disabled activists as positive, in a manner similar to the fact that most people don't usually use "people with Blackness" to refer to Black people. In a manner similar to Deaf culture, "The Blind" may see themselves separate from "The Sighted"; "The Disabled" and "The Disabled Community" are used similarly.
  • "Wheelchair-bound" for someone who uses a wheelchair is unacceptable because of the word "bound" being used in it, which is akin to slavery's chains. "Wheelchair user" or "person who uses a wheelchair" is preferred, referring to the wheelchair as a tool rather than an entrapment.
  • "Yuppie flu" used as a pejorative term for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) or CFS. This originated from the media stereotype of people with ME as ambitious, young, and affluent, and having an illness indistinguishable from influenza, neither of which are accurate portrayals.

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Last updated on Friday February 15, 2008 at 09:31:47 PST (GMT -0800)
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