How we speak about disability

We write Alzheimer's with a capital ‘A’ and an apostrophe.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia.

We say ‘someone with ADHD’ or that ‘someone has ADHD’.

We can use ADHD for short after writing it in full once with the acronym in brackets.

We say that someone is autistic, or that someone is on the autism spectrum.

There is a lot of debate about how to refer to autistic people. We follow the guidance from the National Autistic Society. So we do not use ‘person with autism’ or ‘person has autism’. But we respect individual choices.

How to talk about autism (The National Autistic Society)

We say that someone ‘has bipolar disorder’ or ‘has bipolar’. We use lowercase.

Mind says the term 'bipolar' refers to the way your mood can change between 2 very different states: mania and depression.

We do not say ‘manic depression’ as this is an outdated term.

We use: 

• blind people 
• partially sighted people 
• visually impaired people 

We never use ‘the blind’ or ‘the visually impaired’.

Guide Dogs is a working name for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is no longer called Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB).

Braille is a tactile writing system using raised dots. It’s designed to be read by fingers rather than eyes. You do not need a capital ‘B’ at the start.

British Sign Language is often abbreviated to BSL. We can use BSL for short after writing it in full once with the acronym in brackets.

It is the sign language most used in the United Kingdom. The British Sign Language Act 2022 recognises BSL as a language of England, Wales and Scotland.

We say that someone uses BSL, or that they are a BSL user. Or you can say a sign language user if you are not sure if someone is using BSL.

We say that someone ‘has cerebral palsy’. We can use CP for short after writing it in full once with the acronym in brackets.

Cerebral palsy is a condition that affects muscle control and movement. It's usually caused by an injury to the brain before, during or after birth.

We say that someone has a cochlear implant.

Cochlear implants are different from hearing aids. Cochlear implants involve surgery. They have an external part and an internal part.

‘Cripple’ and ‘crippled’ are offensive and outdated terms. We would not use them.

Some disabled people may use ‘cripple’ or ‘crip’ in their self-expression. This is a personal choice. When we speak as Scope, we do not use these terms.

We use ‘deaf person’ or ‘deaf people’. We also use ‘people with hearing loss’ and ‘people with a hearing impairment’.

We never use ‘the deaf’ or ‘the hearing impaired’.

Some people refer to themselves as ‘Deaf’ with a capital D. This is the cultural model of deafness. Some organisations use d/Deaf or D/deaf to be inclusive of this. We do not use these because slashes can cause issues for screen readers. And screen readers do not read out capital letters.

What is the difference between deaf and Deaf? (SignHealth)

Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID)

British Deaf Association (BDA)

We say ‘someone with diabetes’ or that ‘someone has diabetes’.

We do not say someone is diabetic. Some people might call themselves diabetic. This is a personal choice. When we speak as Scope, we do not use this term.

At Scope, we follow the social model of disability as opposed to a medical model. The social model says people are disabled by society, not by their impairments or conditions.

We use:

• disabled person
• disabled people
• people with an impairment or condition

We do not use:

• person with a disability
• people with a disability

We respect everyone’s personal language choices. We would not change someone’s quote. But when we speak as Scope, we use social model language.

We do not use the word ‘disease’ unless it’s part of a medical term.

We do not use the word ‘disorder’ unless it’s part of a medical term.

We say that someone has a hearing aid or that someone is using a hearing aid.

We never call it ‘a deaf aid’.

Hearing aids are different from cochlear implants. Hearing aids are external devices people can remove completely.

Some impairments are less visible than others. We use:

• less visible impairment or condition
• invisible impairment or condition 
• ‘not all impairments are visible’
• ‘not all conditions are visible’

These are all acceptable choices. They can describe different people’s lived experience. Some people prefer ‘less visible’. They say that if someone also has their condition, they would easily notice it. But some people prefer ‘invisible’ because they say that their condition is not visible at all to other people.

We do not use:

• less visible disability
• invisible disability
• hidden disability
• ‘not all disabilities are visible’

This is because these expressions do not use social model language.

The term ‘learning difficulty’ can refer to conditions like:

• dyslexia
• dyspraxia
• dyscalculia
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Mencap uses ‘learning disability’ to define “a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities”. They give the examples of “household tasks, socialising or managing money”.

Learning disability or learning difficulty? (Mencap)

We use ‘long-term condition’.

Some people might use ‘chronic condition’ or ‘chronic illness’ to talk about themselves. This is a personal choice. When we speak as Scope, we do not use these terms.

We talk about mental health or mental health conditions.

We use the term mobility aid to talk about anything that helps people’s mobility. For example:

• a wheelchair
• a scooter
• a cane
• a crutch

We write ‘motor neurone disease’ all in lower case. We can use MND for short after writing it in full once with the acronym in brackets.

We do not write:

• Motor Neurone Disease
• Motor Neurone

What is MND?

Neurodiversity is used to talk about the idea that everyone has different brains. And that this diversity is natural.

Using this idea, different words are used to talk about people.

Neurodivergent can be used to talk about people with a variety of conditions. For example: autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or mental health conditions.

Neurotypical is the opposite of neurodivergent. The majority of people are neurotypical.

We use ‘non-disabled’ to talk about people who are not disabled.

We do not use:

• person without a disability
• people without disabilities
• able-bodied people
• normal people
• healthy people

We say ‘older people’.

We do not say:

• elderly people
• the elderly

Parkinson’s always has a capital ‘P’ and an apostrophe. We say that someone has Parkinson’s.

People with Parkinson’s have said that they do not like the word ‘disease’ because it sounds negative.

Types of Parkinsonism (Parkinson’s UK)

Until 1994 Scope was The Spastics Society. We changed our name because the word 'spastic' became a term of abuse. We do not use the word 'spastic' in any of our communications unless we are talking about the organisation's past. Read about our Scope's history.

Medical professionals might talk about ‘spastic muscles’ or ‘spasticity’. This is different from using ‘spastic’ as a term of abuse.

We do not say that someone ‘suffers from’ a condition. This suggests they have a reduced quality of life. This is not an assumption we want to make.

Instead, we would say ‘he has spina bifida’ or ‘she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy’ for example.

We say that someone died by suicide.

We do not say that someone ‘committed suicide’ as suicide is not a crime.

How to talk about suicide safely online (Samaritans)

We use:

• Tourette syndrome
• Tourette’s

We can use TS for short after writing Tourette syndrome in full once with the acronym in brackets. It always has a capital ‘T’.

We do not use ‘vulnerable’ to talk about disabled people. Disabled people are not automatically vulnerable. But they might be more vulnerable than non-disabled people in certain contexts.

For example, you could say that someone is ‘vulnerable to coronavirus’ if you need to.

We use ‘a person who uses a wheelchair’. It is OK to say ‘wheelchair users’ if you are talking about several people.

We do not use:

• in a wheelchair
• wheelchair bound
• confined to a wheelchair