people first language

Haim Ginott taught us that labels are disabling; intuitively most of us recognize this and resist being labeled. The disability rights movement originated guidance on people-first language, which says, for example, we don't call someone a "diabetic" but rather "a person with diabetes." Saying someone is "an HIV/AIDS victim" reduces the person to a disease, a label, a statistic; use instead "a person with/who has/who is living with HIV/AIDS." Instead of "crack babies," use "babies addicted to crack." The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act is a good example of correct wording. The "people-first" practice is useful not only in speaking and writing of those with disabilities. Readers of a magazine aimed at an older audience were asked what they wanted to be called (elderly? Senior citizens? Seniors? Golden agers?). They rejected all the labels; one said, "How about just people?" When high school students objected to labels like kids, teens, teenagers, youth, adolescents, or juveniles, and were asked what they would like to be called, they said, "Could we just be people?" Name the person as a person first, and let qualifiers (age, sex, disability, ethnicity) follow, but (and this is crucial) only if they are relevant. Not all those with disabilities like people-first language; some members of the autism and Deaf communities, for example, prefer identity-first language. When possible, ask the person with the disability for an accurate descriptor. See also disabilities, handicapism, victim.