Eligibility for Students as
Students with a Disability

Referral of a
Student to the Office
of Disability Services

Syllabus Statements

Confidentiality and Disability - Guidelines
for Faculty

Web Construction and ADA Guidelines

Project and Paper Extension Policies

Language of Disability

Reasonable Accommodations
by Disability

Project Success Workshops

Our language evolves with increased awareness, sensitivity to the impact that words can have on attitudes, and the impact of the media on our self-esteem. The language or choice of words has evolved in relation to the awareness we have that individuals who have disabilities are equal contributors and partners in our society as anyone without a disability.

Avoid using the word “handicapped”.
It refers to the stereotype of a person who had no other means of support than to take off his hat or cap and beg – cap in hand became handicapped.

Avoid putting the word “the” before the term for the disability: the blind, the deaf, the crippled, the disabled.
Categorizing individuals and putting them into subgroups takes away the individuality and the dignity of the person who is blind, the person who is deaf or hard of hearing, etc.

Put the person first:
The person who is blind (or visually impaired)
The person who is deaf (or hearing-impaired)
The person who uses a cane, or a wheelchair, or a scooter, or crutches, or has a mobility impairment (note that the person uses the item.)
Student with a disability
Student who cannot speak or is mute (not student who is dumb)
A person who has muscular dystrophy, a person who has had a stroke, an individual with epilepsy.

Avoid using “victim” or “sufferer”
These terms presume the person is in agony or perpetually helpless.