Background: Disability and disabled generally describe functional limitations that affect one or more of the major life activities, including walking, lifting, learning and breathing. This lack of diversity negatively affects Deaf and hard of hearing (DHOH) people of color, who are subjected to communication barriers when utilizing the services of an interpreter from different ethnic and racial backgrounds as themselves. NCDJ Recommendation: Treatment is an acceptable term for medical interventions, and treatment center is acceptable for the establishment in which such practices take place. Background: Some use the term survivor to affirm their recovery from or conquest of an adverse health condition. More serious causes of dysarthria, or sudden slurred speech, include You also may want to provide a more detailed description of the disability. Additional material: I Dont Have Autism, Im Autistic, Lenny Letter. There's nothing inherently negative about spasticity aside from the pain that can result from it but like many neutral words, people have used "spaz" to make In general, avoid using able-bodied except in a quote. Many dislike Background: Tetraplegia, used interchangeably with quadriplegia, is defined as the paralysis of all four limbs as well as the torso. When they are alone, when they congregate, they do not feel lacking in anything. The institute states, It is common for people to have mixed dementia a combination of two or more types of dementia. NCDJ Recommendation: Many people prefer people-first language, such as a person with tetraplegia rather than tetraplegic, since this implies that the condition defines them. Background: According to the National Association for Gifted Children, giftedness is characterized by the capacity to perform above the level of ones peers. Seizures can happen after a stroke, a closed head injury, an infection such as meningitis or another illness. Journalists should consider other ways of describing a persons ability to function in society. It often is caused by a spinal cord or brain injury and is characterized by the loss of sensory and motor function. Senator John McCain died in the summer of 2018. They are frequently used by nonspeaking individuals and those with limited vocabulary to aid or replace oral speech. AP style: The style book suggests naming the specific condition when possible rather than making a general reference. Background: A chronic illness is defined by the National Health Council as a health condition lasting three months or longer and includes conditions such as cancer or heart disease. In the case of a leg injury, explain instead that an injury resulted in difficulty walking. Similarly, ask whether the person prefers identity-first or people-first language. Its acceptable to use the word said in subsequent references. The following broad definitions are sourced from Psychology Today: NCDJ Recommendation: Ask professionals how they should be identified, based on their formal training. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, the word addiction is acceptable for uncontrollable, compulsive use of substances as well as acts such as gambling, sex, working, etc., in the face of negative health and social consequences. They are still used in a variety of contexts but should be avoided. However, people with speech and hearing disabilities are capable of expressing themselves in writing, through sign language and in other ways. NCDJ Recommendation: Use Disability Studies in the same way you would reference other academic disciplines. NCDJ Recommendation: Blind may be used for people who have complete or almost complete loss of sight. ASL is acceptable on second reference. Rapid speech that is difficult to understand. Background: These terms refer to a variety of ways that people communicate without speaking. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the opposite is true. Able-bodied is an appropriate term to use in some cases, such as when referring to government reports on the proportion of able-bodied members in the workforce. NCDJ Recommendation: Colorblind is still generally acceptable, but in the interest of accuracy, consider indicating what kind of color-blindness a person has, such as red-green color-blindness. Background: Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by tics, sudden, purposeless and rapid movements or vocalizations, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders. Background: The terms hearing impaired and hearing impairment are sometimes used to describe people with hearing loss that ranges from partial to complete. If you are in doubt about how to refer to a person, ask the person. Instead, be as specific as possible. There is debate about when someone with a chronic illness is considered to have a disability. Some degenerative diseases can cause dysarthria, a motor speech disorder. Use obsessive-compulsive disorder on first reference; OCD is acceptable in second reference. Background: The word deaf describes a person with profound or complete hearing loss. The term midget was used in the past to describe an unusually short and proportionate person. Medically assisted suicide is permitted in some states and countries. It is not interchangeable with American sign language; in fact, its not sign language at all. It calls for use of a lower case d in all usages. Avoid confined to a wheelchair or wheelchair-bound as these terms describe a person only in relationship to a piece of equipment. It is typically caused by a spinal cord or brain injury. AP style: Addressed in entry for Trauma, suggesting that traumatic brain injury is an acceptable use of the word trauma., Background: A caregiver is an individual who provides direct care to people with disabilities and others, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. As youll see below, high functioning and low functioning are considered offensive. Many people with intellectual disabilities and their advocates consider these terms to be dismissive or reductive of a persons abilities. Background: Treatment is defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine as the use of any planned, intentional intervention in the health, behavior, personal and/or family life of an individual with alcoholism or another drug dependency designed to achieve and maintain sobriety, physical and mental health and maximum functional ability. Dysarthria. See also Insane/insanity/mentally deranged/psychopathology. Epilepsy is most commonly treated with medication but treatment also can include use of medical devices, surgery, diet and emerging therapy methods. Background: Psychological triggers are words, images or sounds that activate phobias, panic attacks or flashbacks to unpleasant events or trauma. A developmental disability can include a long-term physical or cognitive/intellectual disability or both. WebYSK that "Hearing Impaired" term is incorrect and offensive, use Hard of Hearing when referring to the demographic. NCDJ Recommendation: Terms such as battle and survivor are still widely accepted and understood, but the user should be aware that they could offend some people. Severe implies judgement; significant might be better. NCDJ Recommendation: Use Plain English or Plain Language but confirm with the source that that is the correct terminology. AP style: PTSD is acceptable on either first or second reference but should be spelled out at least one time. The most common forms of mental illness are anxiety disorders, mood disorders and schizophrenia disorders. Such tics are recurrent, involuntary and non-rhythmic. This takes years of intensive practice and professional training.. Background: Paraplegia is defined as the loss of movement in the lower extremities and torso. Do not refer to an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Refer instead to an attempted suicide.. NCDJ Recommendation: Refer to injuries as being sustained or received rather than suffered, as suffer implies that an injured person is a victim or somehow less than a person who has not been injured. She experiences symptoms of psychosis is preferable to She is psychotic. He has a bipolar disorder is preferable to He is bipolar.. AP style: The stylebook states that its acceptable to use the word autism as an umbrella term for a group of developmental disorders. It also says it is acceptable to use the word autism in stories. AP style:The style book defers to the National Association of the Deaf, stating: Hearing-impaired was a well-meaning term that is not accepted or used by many deaf and hard of hearing people.. At times, words that are considered outdated may be appropriate because of the storys historical context. The language around COVID-19 is evolving. See Autism In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association folded Aspergers syndrome into one umbrella diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Many people prefer people-first language, such as a person with Tourette syndrome or a person diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. Avoid the acronym TS, as it is not widely known. Some people have a physical characteristic that is not a result of an amputation. Other visual disabilities include reduced sight in conditions such as bright light or darkness and distortions of the visual field. Background: Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the emergence of two or more distinct personality states or identities in a persons behavior or consciousness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Deaf and hard of hearing became the official terms recommended by the World Federation of the Deaf in 1991. Use the term hypothyroidism instead. NCDJ Recommendation: It is preferable to use neutral language when describing a person who has a disability, simply stating the facts about the nature of the disability. Referring to someone who does not have a disability as a normal person implies that people with disabilities are deviant or strange. NCDJ Recommendation: Caregiver is preferable to caretaker when referring to the care of people. This hearing-impaired population may be even more isolated than the visually impaired community. Background: Mental illness is an umbrella term for many different conditions that affect how individuals act, think, feel or perceive the world.. NCDJ Recommendation: Ask people how they would like to be described. Manifestations may include stuttering, articulation errors or an inability to move the tongue (commonly referred to as tongue-tied). If a medical diagnosis is not available, use quotes around the term and indicate that a diagnosis has not been confirmed. Use recovering to refer to someone with the disease of addiction, as in someone recovering from alcoholism.. Use quotes when officials or family members use a term such as a history of mental illness to refer to an individual, and when appropriate, indicate that the diagnosis has not been confirmed. NCDJ Recommendation: Cretin is considered a slur to describe a person with intellectual disabilities. Hearing is a prerequisite for the development of normal speech & language. Many experts classify autism as a developmental disability. Background: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cued speech is a building block that helps children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing better understand spoken languages. Its a series of hand signs and spots near the mouth used to differentiate between sounds that look the same as one is mouthing them. But not all people who appear to haveseizures haveepilepsy, a group of related disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrentseizures., NCDJ Recommendation: Refer to someone as having epilepsy only if the information is relevant to the story and if youre confident there is a medical diagnosis. NCDJ Recommendation: The terms service animal, assistance animal and guide dog all are acceptable. But it should not be used when referring to a specific person or to a group of people with a specific condition. The Center states that addiction differs from dependence. Avoid saying a person suffers from or is afflicted with the disease. It is a common learning disability among children, although adolescents and adults with dyslexia often exhibit symptoms as well. Alzheimers disease is the most common form of dementia. Psychiatrist: A mental health professional able to prescribe psychotropic medications. Referring to someone as an epileptic is often considered offensive. Laws against suicide have been repealed in the U.S. and many other places. NCDJ Recommendation: The words abnormal or abnormality might be acceptable when describing scientific phenomena, such as abnormalities in brain function. Background: The terms insane, insanity and mentally deranged are commonly used informally to denote mental instability or mental illness but can be considered offensive. Do not use the terms addiction and dependence interchangeably. NCDJ Recommendation: Do not call someone disfigured as it is considered derogatory. "Hard of hearing" refers to a hearing loss where there may be enough residual Instead, define it as an electronic device that can assist a person who is deaf or hard of hearing in understanding speech. NCDJ Recommendation: Behavioral health hospital or psychiatric hospital are the preferred terms to describe medical facilities specifically devoted to treating people with mental health conditions. For similar reasons, there is disagreement about characterizing disease or illness as a battle, as in to battle cancer. These arguments surfaced after U.S. The fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders consolidates all autism disorders under the larger autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. NCDJ Recommendation: Non-disabled or does not have a disability are acceptable terms when referring to people who do not identify as having a disability. However, AP advises against the latter formulation. The terms are considered derogatory because they equate symptoms of illness to filth. Many medical organizations do not use a hyphen when spelling posttraumatic; however the AP does. NCDJ Recommendation: The NCDJ endorses The Associated Press style, below. Symptoms include restlessness, difficulty in focusing or staying organized and impulsivity. The American Psychiatric Association discourages using derogatory language such as the term junkie to refer to someone who misuses drugs. Background: Hard of hearing is the most common term for those who have a mild to moderate hearing loss that may or may not be corrected with amplification. AP style: Included in its Disabled/Handicapped entry, the stylebook describes blind as a person with complete loss of sight and suggests using the terms visually impaired or person with low vision for those who have some sight. Background: Depression is characterized by a loss of interest in activities, persistent fatigue, difficulty in concentrating and making decisions, prolonged feelings of emptiness or hopelessness, and abnormal eating habits, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Physical damage to the brain: Brain damage can affect both structure and function. Use lower case unless referring to the Great Depression. Use this guide. Disability advocate Anthony Pulrang defines ableism in this way in an article for Forbes: Any statement or behavior directed at a disabled person that denigrates or assumes a lesser status for the person because of their disability. WebAs you can see, even mild hearing loss can affect the sounds of speech, making it difficult to understand words with consonant sounds. AP Style: The only reference relates to hyphenation. People with psychosis are described as psychotic. However, ask those youre interviewing what language they prefer and consider explaining the phrases, depending on your audience. Conforms to AP style: The stylebook cautions against describing an individual as mentally ill unless clearly pertinent to a story and the diagnosis is properly sourced. According to Merriam Webster, homebound means confined to the home. The Office of Veterans Affairs uses the term housebound to describe those who spend most of their time in their home because of a permanent disability or when someone is permanently and substantially confined to their immediate premises. However, the terms are sometimes applied incorrectly to people with disabilities who require some mobility assistance but who are relatively independent. NCDJ Recommendation: Refer to someone as having dyslexia only if the information is relevant to the story and if youre confident there is a medical diagnosis. People-first language is not preferred by all people with disabilities. The plural of dwarf is dwarfs.. Archaeologist Elisa Perego coined the term long COVID to refer to people with lasting symptoms. Background: According to the University of Kansas Research & Training Center on Independent Living, learning disability describes a neurologically based condition that may manifest itself as difficulty learning and using skills in reading (called dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), mathematics (dyscalculia) and other cognitive processes due to differences in how the brain processes information. Severity and symptoms vary widely. Some of the more common genetic conditions include cystic fibrosis, Huntingtons disease, and sickle cell anemia. It is best to ask your sources what they prefer and take that into consideration. For example: He has muscular dystrophy, and avoiding characterizing those conditions as afflictions. Use treatment center in place of rehab or detox center. Because of perceived stigma, some people are calling for an end to the use of the term mental illness, suggesting instead a person diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder or a person with a mental health history. Some advocates suggest using the term mental health experience. However, the term mental illness still is widely used within the medical and psychiatric professions. Its considered offensive. Originally called falling sickness in English, the word has roots in Greek and Latin. Use the term dissociative identity disorder, not multiple personality disorder, and avoid the acronym DID.. First, we would like to offer some basic guidelines: Of course, our sources dont always speak the way we write. Little People of America has a statement on the M word., The terms little people and little person refer to people of short stature and have come into common use since the founding of the Little People of America organization in 1957. AAC may be used on second reference. Twice-exceptional students represent a unique group of learners with diverse programming and emotional needs due to the fact that they may have both gifts and disabilities.. Some people with autism prefer being referred to as autistic or an autistic person. Others object to using autistic as an adjective. Background: The term special needs was popularized in the U.S. in the early 20th century during a push for special needs education to serve people with all kinds of disabilities. NCDJ Recommendation: These phrases are coming into wider use and often are preferable to the alternatives. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid the use of mongoloid to refer to someone with Down syndrome. Avoid alcoholic, addict, user and abuser unless individuals prefer those terms for themselves or if they occur in quotations or names of organizations, such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Dystrophy, and sickle cell anemia of people with disabilities are deviant or strange hearing-impaired population may be for. 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