Focus on the person, not the disability

Mention disability only when it’s relevant to the content.

When you are writing about people with disability, focus on the person. Engage with people through user research.

User research can uncover whether an individual or community preference is:

• person-first language
• identity-first language.

Use person-first language for Australian Government content, unless user research says otherwise.

Be responsive if you get feedback on the language you’ve used. It can guide user research around language that respects individual or community preferences.

Use respectful language

Respectful language acknowledges peoples’ preferences to identify with a particular community or characteristic. 

Terms should not identify people without an understanding of personal preference. For example, many people who are deaf or hard of hearing may identify as ‘Deaf’ – a cultural group with a different first language. 

Avoid using the disability as an adjective that defines the person, unless that is their preference. Use the word ‘disability’ as an uncountable noun.

Use person-first language when you don’t understand individual or community preferences. Describe the person and then the characteristic.

You can cause offence when you do not use respectful language, even if it is well intentioned.

• Don’t say a person is inspirational only because of their disability.
• Don’t write about people as if they are heroes or victims.
• Avoid euphemisms and made-up terms, such as ‘differently abled’ and ‘handicapable’.

People with disability could consider these types of terms condescending.  

When you are making comparisons, write:

• ‘person without disability’ – rather than ‘able-bodied’
• ‘sighted person’ for someone who is not blind
• ‘hearing person’ for someone who is not deaf
• ‘neurotypical’ for someone who is not autistic.

The social model of disability

The traditional view of disability has been a medical model. In this approach, disability is a health condition for health professionals to treat, fix or cure. 

Many people with disability prefer another approach: the social model of disability. This is a way to understand how people with disability interact with their environment and others in society.

The social model is about shifting the problem from individual impairments to the social environment that people operate in.

From this viewpoint, disability arises from the way people with disability interact with the world. They encounter physical barriers, digital barriers and barriers of attitudes and communication. These block their participation in society.

The social model recognises the reality of a disability and its effects. By contrast, the medical model looks at impairments that create a medical condition.

The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations has more information on the social model of disability.

Advocates of the social model of disability focus on the barriers to participating in society faced by people living with disability.

People who are blind or have low vision

‘Legal blindness’ and being ‘legally blind’ have specific definitions. In government use, these terms relate a person's sight loss to eligibility criteria. Many people who are legally blind do have some vision. 

The terms ‘blind’ and ‘low vision’ include people with no sight and people who have some sight.

A person who is totally blind does not perceive light and has no usable vision. A person who has low vision has some ability to see. Wearing regular glasses will not improve their vision.

A person who is blind or who has low vision might use screen reading software, Braille displays, or screen magnification technology to access content. People who are blind might use other ways to communicate using hearing or touch.

Acceptable terms include ‘person who is blind’ and ‘person who has low vision’. Don’t write ‘the blind’ or ‘person without sight’.

People who are deaf or hard of hearing

The terms ‘deaf’ and ‘hard of hearing’ include people with no hearing or limited hearing. They might have difficulty using audio content. If you are providing audio content, make the information available in other ways – such as captions and a transcript.

The World Federation of the Deaf disapproves of the term ‘hearing impaired’ as it describes people as if they have a deficiency.

Refer to someone with hearing loss as a ‘person who is deaf or hard of hearing’.

Some people who are deaf or hard of hearing use the Australian sign language, Auslan. Some people who are deaf or hard of hearing view themselves as members of a community and language group. This community calls itself the Deaf community, and encourages others to do the same. The Deaf community uses the term with a capital letter ‘D’ as a mark of its identity.

Members of the Deaf community might still use deaf with a lowercase ‘d’ to refer to their hearing.

People with cognitive disability

People with cognitive disability include people with intellectual disability, acquired brain injury or dementia.

‘Cognitive disability’ is a broad term that covers a range of conditions. Genes, illnesses, injury, physical factors or environmental factors may cause cognitive disability.

Creating content in more than one format, such as making an Easy Read version, can help some people with cognitive disability access information. Follow W3C updates on making content usable for people with cognitive and learning disabilities.

People with learning disability

People with ‘learning disability’ might have difficulty planning and difficulty processing new information. The causes are neurological. They are difficult to address and can be lifelong.

Some Australian support groups and educators use ‘learning difficulty’ and ‘learning disability’ for all people who have difficulty learning a basic academic skill. 

Learning disability is not the same as a learning difficulty, which can be overcome with intensive teaching or training. Learning difficulties are not generally considered to be disability.

Examples of learning disabilities are dyslexia (reading), dyscalculia (mathematics) and various auditory processing disorders (sound and verbal instructions). Having a learning disability is not related to intelligence.

People with mental illness

‘Mental illness’ is a broad term that covers many different conditions that influence the way people act, think, feel or see the world.

The term ‘psychosocial disability’ is specific to some people with severe mental health conditions. It covers both psychological and social factors. It focuses on restrictions on participating in society. Not every mental illness involves a psychosocial disability.

Some ways of talking about mental illness can cause offence.

Use people-first language when you refer to a person with mental illness.

Describe the person as ‘having’ mental illness, just as you would for any other illness or injury. Don’t describe the person as ‘being’ a disease.

Mental illness sometimes attracts social stigma. This stigma may prevent people from acknowledging their mental health conditions and talking about them with others.

There is advice about the best language to use for mental illness in guides from the Australian Human Rights Commission and Everymind.

Neurodiversity

The term ‘neurodiversity’ refers to the idea that neurological differences, such as autism and ADHD, sit within the normal spectrum of human variation. Neurological differences are not always a disability. Advocates refer to the diverse range of differences in the brain and behaviour. They say societal barriers are the main factors disabling people.

Neurodiversity was first used for people on the autism spectrum. It is now also applied to other conditions, such as dyslexia.