AA is unaffiliated with any outside organizations or institutions and does not endorse, finance or oppose any causes. Dont say that an awards show, for example, was schizophrenic., Background: According to the Mayo Clinic: A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain. Dysarthria. NCDJ Recommendation: Do not say someone has had a seizure unless there has been a medical diagnosis. Do not assume that a person who has had a seizure has epilepsy. Background: A defect is defined as an imperfection or shortcoming. The term special education is still widely used when referring to public school programs, although some government entities use titles like exceptional student services.. And if you cant ask the person, dont avoid writing about disability. 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. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid terms like disorder or defect, which are considered derogatory. According to the National Institute on Aging, other dementias include Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal disorders and vascular dementia. The center recommends against using the term harelip as it is anatomically incorrect and stigmatizing. As some advocates observe, we are all differently abled. There is debate over how relevant IQ tests should be in making a diagnosis. AP style: The stylebook uses deaf to describe a person with total hearing loss and partially deaf or partial hearing loss for others. The term high-functioning autism is widely used but is not a medical diagnosis, and many consider it offensive. In the past, we have encouraged journalists and others to use person-first language (such as, a person who has Down syndrome rather than a Down syndrome person) as a default. 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. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid describing people as gifted or twice exceptional unless they have been identified as such by a professional. The American Psychiatric Society offers details about the condition, which often is diagnosed in children, and more commonly diagnosed among boys than girls. Background: A language researcher introduced the term audism in 1975, according to Britannica, which defines it as people who continually judge deaf peoples intelligence and success on the basis of their ability in the language of the hearing culture. It also appears when deaf people themselves actively participate in the oppression of other deaf people by demanding of them the same set of standards, behavior, and values that they demand of hearing people. The term reemerged in the 1990s and is generally accepted today. In general, avoid using able-bodied except in a quote. Background: The two terms often are used interchangeably. 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. Disorder is ubiquitous when it comes to medical references; and the same is true for special when used in special education, so there may be times when its appropriate to use them. It does not address the use of autistic as an adjective. NCDJ Recommendation: When referring to a person with a chronic illness, only refer to the condition if it is pertinent to the story you are confident there is a medical diagnosis. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid language that may legitimize facilitated communication. AP style: Although there is no entry for service animal, the style book takes note of the Seeing Eye dog trademark and says guide dog is prefered in all references. WebInclude plenty of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables in their diet. Patients may exhibit eye movements and other involuntary movements. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid using handicap and handicapped when describing a person. 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. It is characterized by new muscle weakness, joint and muscle pain and fatigue., NCDJ Recommendation: Use the term polio rather than infantile paralysis. Background: Non-disabled refers to someone who does not have a disability. Some provide emotional therapy as well as medication management. 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. It is important to note that some autism advocates do not like this term; it tends to be embraced by self advocates, but not as frequently by families of people with autism who also have intellectual disabilities and other challenges. Some of the more common genetic conditions include cystic fibrosis, Huntingtons disease, and sickle cell anemia. NCDJ Recommendation: Do not call someone disfigured as it is considered derogatory. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid using the terms high functioning and low functioning. Instead, use medical diagnoses and describe an individuals abilities and challenges, rather than using less-specific labels. Background: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological and developmental disorder characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures, according to the Epilepsy Foundation. Addiction often implies dependence on substances other than alcohol, although alcoholism is essentially alcohol addiction. AP style: The style book suggests naming the specific condition when possible rather than making a general reference. NCDJ Recommendation: Refer to someone as having bipolar disorder only if the information is relevant to the story and you are confident there is a medical diagnosis. Earwax buildup (cerumen) can occlude sound from passing through to the middle ear. The center also recommends using the word misuse in place of abuse when describing harmful drug usage. Background: Bipolar disorder is a mental illness believed to be caused by a combination of genetic factors and neurological functioning, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Background: The University of Kansas Research & Training Center on Independent Living describes this as a specific congenital disability involving the lip and gum. There are many types of seizures, which range in severity. Background: These phrases are used to describe conditions in which arms, legs, fingers, or toes are missing, not fully formed or shaped in a different way, either as a result of an amputation or a congenital condition. It often is caused by a spinal cord or brain injury and is characterized by the loss of sensory and motor function. They are frequently used by nonspeaking individuals and those with limited vocabulary to aid or replace oral speech. Nasal, raspy or strained voice. Some people with mild to moderate hearing loss may affiliate themselves with the Deaf community and prefer to be referred to as deaf instead of hard of hearing. Alternatively, some who are profoundly deaf may prefer the term hard of hearing.. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed a measure known as Rosas Law that replaced the term mental retardation with intellectual disability in many areas of government, including federal law. Do not substitute slow learner or another derogatory term like retarded.. WebDeafness is defined as "a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification." Journalists also may want to include such warnings in material distributed to a general audience. Many feel that its never appropriate to use homebound or housebound.. AP Style: The only reference relates to hyphenation. Others prefer hard of hearing. It is best to ask your sources what they prefer. Alternatively, it is acceptable to say that a person has had a disability since birth or was born with a disability. State the specific disability if possible. The Autism Self Advocacy Network details this debate. In Franco-Provenal (the Romance speech of French Switzerland and adjacent areas of France), a person affected by hypothyroidism was called a cretin, literally, wretch, innocent victim, The word meant simply Christian and emphasized the hypothyroid victims basic humanity.. Specify the type of condition if it is known. Specific disorders should be used and the source of the diagnosis identified whenever possible. Jon Henner, an assistant professor at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who is Deaf, describes himself as a crip linguist., While some activists have embraced the word, adopting hashtags such as #criplit and #cripthevote, others are very much against its use. Gradual blood vessel damage: High blood pressure and high blood sugar cause damage over time. If you are in doubt about how to refer to a person, ask the person. Plain English is sometimes known as plain language or Everyday English. Other symptoms include memory loss, emotional issues, disorientation and the development of other mental disorders. To become an interpreter, an individual must not only display bilingual and bicultural proficiency but also have the ability to mediate meanings across languages and cultures, both simultaneously and consecutively. It is important to understand that many people do not consider being deaf or having hearing loss as a disability. Background: Disability and disabled generally describe functional limitations that affect one or more of the major life activities, including walking, lifting, learning and breathing. NCDJ Recommendation: The word stuttering is preferred over stammering. While people-first language is generally preferred (a person who stutters), some individuals may prefer stutterer. When possible, ask. 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. Keah Brown, a writer and disability activist who has cerebral palsy, tweeted in 2018: I just really cant stand the word cripple, so whenever I see it, I block it out. But what is relevant is not always clear. Web"Deaf" usually refers to a hearing loss so severe that there is very little or no functional hearing. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) Difficulty with speech, including slurred Hearing is a prerequisite for the development of normal speech & language. Some content can spark difficult memories for people with certain mental illnesses and phobias.Trigger warnings communicate that upcoming content may produce unpredictable and unwelcome reactions for some readers. 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. WebAccording to the National Association of the Deaf, there are approximately 28 million deaf and hearing-impaired people in the U.S.--roughly 10 percent of the total population. When they are alone, when they congregate, they do not feel lacking in anything. It is typically caused by a spinal cord or brain injury. 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. Background: The term has long been used to refer to difficulty telling the difference between colors, and it is used by the National Eye Institute and the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Background: According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, a genetic disorder is caused in whole or in part by a change in the DNA sequence away from the normal sequence. WebHearing impairment is the inability of an individual to hear sounds adequately. Prior to 2013, subtypes of autism, such as Aspergers syndrome, autism disorder and childhood disintegrative disorder, were classified as distinct disorders. However, it is such a general term that it fails to accurately describe a persons condition and is now widely viewed as offensive in that it implies that a person lacks abilities. Its proper name is major depressive disorder. The institute says that related diagnoses include seasonal affective disorder (characterized by the onset of depression during the winter months), psychotic depression (a combination of psychosis and depression), and postpartum depression (sometimes experienced by mothers after giving birth). A treatment center is an establishment usually run by psychiatric or medical professionals. NCDJ Recommendation: Treatment is an acceptable term for medical interventions, and treatment center is acceptable for the establishment in which such practices take place. Many people consider defect and other forms of the term offensive when describing a disability as they imply the person is deficient or inferior to others. Most seizures last from 30 seconds to two minutes. Then numbers were assigned to words not just mentally retarded, but also terms like imbecile, idiot and moron.. 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. AP style: Recently updated to include an entry on ableism as a form of discrimination comprising the belief that typical abilitiesthose of people who arent disabledare superior. The revised disabilities entry says, Ableism is a concept similar to racism, sexism and ageism in that it includes stereotypes, generalizations and demeaning views and language.. The AA program is focused on 12 steps to achieve sobriety. Use interpreter only for those who have completed advanced training. The Registry of Interpreters of the Deaf has a searchable database of registered interpreters. NCDJ Recommendation: Specify American Sign Language on first reference, capitalizing all three words. 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. Others, including the authors of Great Minds and How to Grow Them, question whether there is such a thing as a gifted child. They have come to replace labels such as amputee or malformation, deformation or anomaly. Finally, it cautions against using mental health terms to describe non-health issues. Specifically, some members of the autism and Deaf communities prefer identity-first language. NCDJ Recommendation:Avoid using cripple as either a noun or verb unless you are describing the crip movement or if its in a direct quote. A genetic condition is congenital, but a congenital condition is not necessarily genetic. Mute and dumb imply that communication is not possible. Use of the word dwarf is considered acceptable when referring to the genetic condition, but it is often considered offensive when used in a non-medical sense. Mayo Clinic. Background: An alcoholic is someone who has the disease of alcoholism. Physical damage to the brain: Brain damage can affect both structure and function. Journalists should consider other ways of describing a persons ability to function in society. Seizures are more common than you might think. They recommend color vision deficiency.. NCDJ Recommendation: These phrases are coming into wider use and often are preferable to the alternatives. Uppercase when referring to the Deaf community and lowercase when referring to the condition. It is considered highly derogatory to describe someone with Down syndrome as being mongoloid.. Heart attack: Heart attacks cause pain, exhaustion, and shortness of breath, which can result in slurred speech. Background: A person who has a congenital disability has had a disability since birth. Do not say the person had a fit or had an epileptic fit.. However, some people still strongly support the method. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid using the terms unless used in a direct quote. 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. Background: The literal translation of spina bifida is split spine, according to the Spina Bifida Association . NCDJ recommendation: Do not apply the term invisible disability to people without asking what they prefer. But proceed with extra caution. Use obsessive-compulsive disorder on first reference; OCD is acceptable in second reference. Also, according to NOAH, the term albino has been used throughout history in a hateful way; therefore many prefer the people-first term, person with albinism.. Ask people how they want to be described. Use the term dissociative identity disorder, not multiple personality disorder, and avoid the acronym DID.. NCDJ Recommendation: Avoid using lame or lamebrain to describe a person except in a quote. NCDJ Recommendation: Refer to someone as having PTSD only if the information is relevant to the story and youre confident there is a medical diagnosis. AP style: Not addressed except to state that homebound and housebound are one word with no hyphens. These conditions also are called toxicant-induced loss of tolerance, environmental illness or sick-building syndrome.. For example: Eds: Graphic details of the killings could be offensive or disturbing to some readers.. However, the word deformity has a negative connotation when used in reference to those with disabilities. 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. Slurred speech without alcohol is linked to a variety of diagnoses that are cause for concern, including: Multiple Sclerosis Brain Tumors Lyme Disease Head Injury Cerebral Palsy Stroke The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment recommends using people-first language when referring to alcoholism, such as someone with alcoholism or someone with an alcohol addiction., NCDJ Recommendation: Refer to someone who harmfully uses alcohol as a person with alcoholism rather than an alcoholic, which tends to identify someone solely by their disease. Those with such disabilities often require lifelong or extended support. Background: People-first language avoids defining people in terms of their disability. This takes years of intensive practice and professional training., The Registry of Interpreters of the Deaf has a searchable database of registered interpreters, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, The Autism Self Advocacy Network details this debate, I Dont Have Autism, Im Autistic,, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, University of Kansas Research & Training Center on Independent Living, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Syracuse Universitys Disability Cultural Center, Little People of America has a statement on the M word., International Society for Augmentive and Alternative Communication, some people still strongly support the method, This particular use of the word dates to the middle of the 19th century. Background: Cerebral palsy refers to a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Background: The Oxford English Dictionary defines neurodiversity as the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of the normal variation in the human population (used especially in the context of autism spectrum disorders). The word was coined in the late 1990s. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA, regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified. 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