We have been talking it all wrong!

Words are so powerful. Words make a person to go on top of the world or dig deep down. 
Using proper language is not simply being "politically correct." There are reasons to avoid using certain terms.

Let's learn our language.

Etiquettes of disability language:

What is people's first language?

People's first language describes what the person "HAS" and not what the person "IS". People's first language puts the person before disability. We should always say a person with disability rather than a disabled person. It is better to avoid using words and phrases that evoke pity or fear, or that have negative connotation. For eg., words like abnormal, burden, deformed, invalid and so on.

SAY	INSTEAD OF
People with disabilities	Handicapped person
Cognitive disability	Mental retardation
She has Autism	She is autistic
She has learning disability	She is learning disabled
He has physical disability	She is crippled
He/ she receives special education services	He/ she is in special education class
Congenital disability	Birth defect
She needs or uses wheel chair	She is in wheel chair

An individual with disability is a human being. It’s as simple as that.

Treat adults as adults: Treat everyone the way you’d want people to treat you.

Don't assume that person with disability in public place needs your help. Offer assistance but wait until it is accepted. Listen to the instructions given by that person. Here are some tips:

• Always ask first.
•  Understand the clarified assistance.
•  Realize that different people have different preferences.
• Some people don’t want or need help… accept “no” to your offer. 

Some Common Courtesies:

• If the disability is not even Germane to the conversation, don't even mention it.
• Remember, person with disability is not sick or unhealthy.
• A wheel chair is a part of one's personal body space. Laughing or leaning on it is rude and annoying.
• When speaking to a person who uses wheel chair for more than few minutes, place yourself at eye level with that person. (It also applies to people with visual impairment)

• When speaking to a person with disability, speak to  that  person and not to the companion. Similarly for people who use sign language, speak to them rather than the interpreter.
• Share the same social courtesy with everyone.
• Don't ask a person using wheel chair to hold things for you. Respect their personal space.
• If a person with visual impairment needs to be guided, offer your arm and don't take his/ her arm.
• Do not cover your face when communicating with a person who is hard of hearing.
• If you find trouble understanding a person with speech impairment, ask him/ her to repeat.
• Be aware of the language used like stupid, moron, lazy when working with students/ adults with learning disability.
• Acknowledge the difficulty of social distance and clumsiness when working with students/ adults with learning disability.                                                                                                                            

Remember always "DISABILITY IS NATURAL".

Make a mistake? Apologize, correct the error, learn, and move on.

RELAX! It is okay to say to a person who is blind, “I’ll see you later,” or ask a person in a wheelchair to go for a walk. It’s part of our everyday language and not always taken literally.