The other night my daughter Lily was listing how where we live could be turned into nouns to describe us: Americans, Missourians, Jacksonians. However, there are so many things other than our geography that make up who we are. Similarly, there is much more to people who have disabilities or health conditions than their disability or condition. This is the rationale for person-first language.
The “People First” movement began in 1974. In 1992, the American Psychological Association advocated referring to people first as an alternative to labeling individuals, which may have led to the promotion of biases, devaluing of individuals, and expressing negative attitudes. Using person-first language fights the notion of the “one size fits all” mentality.
A 2019 article in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare argued, “When practitioners do not use person-first language, they may place a barrier between themselves and the person in their care. This barrier enables the practitioner to view the diagnosis or injury independently from the individual, distancing them from the person and shielding them from having to consider the person as a whole and all the complexities that entails.” The same could be said of laypeople. Try to make the intentional choice to use person-first language. Rather than “autistic child” choose “child with autism.” Instead of “disabled people” you might say “people with disabilities.” Recognize everyone’s unique identity first!
Resources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371927/
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.898.78&rep=rep1&type=pdf
https://cme.mc.vanderbilt.edu/sites/default/files/TennesseeDisabilityPathfinder-DisabilityEtiquettePeopleFirstLanguage%2812811%29.pdf
