BEFORE YOU CONTINUE:

slurs

not

may not actually be

Ableism is not a list of bad words.

Ableism is *violence.*





Note from 16 June 2013:

tens

Glossary of Ableist Phrases





Generally ableist terms/phrases (some are slurs, some not)

I've listed some alternatives for each phrase, but a longer list of alternatives that can be used for many terms is at the bottom of this page.

















Deformed / deformity

Refers to people born with absent limbs, disfigurements, or other atypical appearances, or who later have amputations, burn scars, or other changes to their physical appearance that are stigmatized in society. Note that many people do not mind use of the words deformed or deformity, and others find the word disfigurement offensive.

Consider instead: describing the specific condition or appearance





Consider instead: wild, confusing, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, fearless, lives on the edge, thrill-seeker, risk-taker, out of control, scary

























































































Terms that are not inherently ableist, but become so in context

I've listed some alternatives for each phrase, but a longer list of alternatives that can be used for many terms is at the bottom of this page.





















Consider instead: has a disability





Ableist terms and phrases that are mostly outdated and not in everyday use anymore









Invalid (as a noun, as in "my neighbor is an invalid and never goes outside")

Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities or chronic health conditions.



Mental Defective

Refers to people with mental, psychiatric, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities.





Mongoloid

Refers to people with intellectual disabilities, and specifically people with Down Syndrome. Derives from a double-whammy of racism AND ableism, from the belief that people with Down Syndrome, regardless of race, look like people from East Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Native nations in the Americas (including Alaska), or the Pacific Islands. This also carries the underlying assumption that people from these racial and ethnic groups are automatically unattractive and undesirable compared to white people of Western European or Scandinavian descent.





Simpleton

Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.

Non-ableist language





Always respect an individual person's preference for identifying or describing themself, even if that is not what the majority in a community prefers. Again, as above, not every person with every disability is personally upset or hurt by every term on this list, even ones that reference their specific disability. That's why this list is meant as a learning/awareness/consciousness tool, not a litmus test or a censorship guide.

This page has receivedhundreds of thousands of pageviews since it launched, and has been simultaneously the subject of a number of angry and accusatory comments and letters as well. I never wrote an introduction to this page before, so I'm going to take the time to briefly do so now. The most frequent accusations that I receive in response to this page can fall into three general accusations that I am a) attempting to police everyone's language, b) obsessed with being politically correct, and or c) extremely hypersensitive to imagined insults and slights. I contend that none of these accusations are true.Language is inherently political. Both as individuals and as larger social and cultural groups, it is self-evident that the language we use to express all sorts of ideas, opinions, and emotions, as well as to describe ourselves and others, is simultaneously reflective of existing attitudes and influential to developing attitudes.The terms that are listed below are part of an expanding English-language glossary of ableist words and terms. I have chosen to include words or phrases that I know of or that are brought to my attention that meet two criteria: 1) Their literal or historical definition derives from a description of disability, either in general or pertaining to a specific category of disability, and 2) They have been historically and or currently used to marginalize, other, and oppress disabled people.The rationale for including some of these words may be readily apparent to many visitors as meriting inclusion on this list, such as for "retarded" and "invalid." For others, however, there may be the lingering suspicion that I have opted to be overinclusive and thus, extremely hypersensitive and obsessed with being politically correct. The reason that I have listed words that may not readily come to mind when asked to consider "insults and slurs targeting disability" is precisely because so much of this ableist language is utterly pervasive both in everyday colloquy and formal idiom with hardly any notice or acknowledgement, even by fellow disabled people not using the language as part of any reclamation project. On that note, the list is not intended to condemn or scold disabled people who use any of the words included in the spirit of reclamation or as self-descriptors.Its primary purpose is to serve as a reference for anyone interested in learning about linguistic microaggressions and everyday, casual ableism. And to the observation that some of the terms offered as alternatives carry analogous meanings, I have stated that the reason some words are included while others are not is because some words have oppressive histories and others do not. For example, the word "" has a disability-specific history (referring to people who cannot speak, and often used to refer to Deaf people), whereas the word "" does not (deriving from a meaning of "beating against something to make it blunt or dull").Granted, there will always be folks, disabled or not, who will disagree with the existence, purpose, and or scope of this glossary for a variety of reasons. This brief essay is not intended as a thorough examination of and response to every possible criticism, which would merit an entire series of essays to adequately discuss. My hope is that the glossary will continue to serve as a resource for those interested in its purpose and contents, and that criticisms of this page might now be more nuanced and more informed, given this background and explanation.+ As a side note, it should be obvious to most readers that political correctness has little, if anything, to do with basic human decency and respect for others, and my primary concern is, in fact, basic human decency and respect for others. Also note that I emphatically insist on referring to myself and my community as autistic, which is assuredly not the politically correct terminology.++ As another side note, it is my intention to eventually expand the entries on this page to either further explain each term's history and or to link to other pages, such as the Ableist Word Profiles from Forward: Feminists with Disabilities (FWD), that have already done so.This is a list of ableist words and terms for reference purposes. Some of the entries are slurs, some are descriptions of disabled people or other people with pathologized identities/bodies/experiences, some are slang that derive from ableist origins, and some are common metaphors that rely on disability and ableism. There are also many terms or phrases that are ableist when used together, but areon this list (like "afflicted with symptoms of [disability]" or "living with physical challenges" or "incapable of managing their behavioral health needs"), because the words taken apart do not have a disability-specific history or current meaning.This is a living document, constantly growing, expanding, and changing. If I've missed something, please let me know!: Many people who identify with particular disabilities or disability in general may use descriptors from this list in an act of reclaiming the language. You may well too! BUT if you do not identify with a particular disability/disabled identity, it's probably appropriative to use some of those terms. (Some examples are mad and crip.)After the list of ableist words and terms, I have included lists of alternatives to ableist slurs, descriptions, and metaphors, if you're interested in unlearning the patterns of linguistic ableism in your own language.Refers to Blind, low-vision, or sight-limited people. Often used as a metaphor.Can refer to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities, if the implication from use is that a person is "like a crazy person."Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Considered ableist because many wheelchair-users experience wheelchairs, and other mobility aids, as liberating, since they enable freedom of movement, rather than confining or restrictive.Refers to people who have survived burns and have visible scars from burns. Not considered offensive by all.Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Considered ableist because many wheelchair-users experience wheelchairs, and other mobility aids, as liberating, since they enable freedom of movement, rather than confining or restrictive.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Often used as a metaphor.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities, when not used to describe the bird.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people.Refers to Deaf or hard of hearing people. Often used as a metaphor.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.alsoand variations)Sounds meant to mock vocalizations that people with intellectual disabilities are stereotyped as making. Some originated, per Oxford English Dictionary, with a 1943 Bugs Bunny cartoon. (h/t Josh Klopfenstein for this information on "duh")Can refer to any person with a disability, and is usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying "disability" or "disabled."orCan refer to any person with a disability, and is usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying "disability" or "disabled."Refers to d/Deaf or hard of hearing people, people with speech-related disabilities, or people with linguistic or communication disorders or disabilities.Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities, and is usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying "disability" or "disabled."Usually refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities, but can also mean any person with a disability.Refers to people with cleft-lip palate or similar facial deformities/cosmetic disabilities.Refers to people with intersex conditions, whether or not they were coercively assigned to a particular sex/gender, and whether or not they currently identify with a binary gender.Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.orRefers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Often used as a metaphor.Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities. Often used as a metaphor.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to an institution housing people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to little people or people with small stature or a form of dwarfism.(or justRefers to fat people/people of size. Note that per many fat activists , it's often completely acceptable to use the word "fat" as a description, so long as it's not used as a pejorative in and of itself.Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.Invokes the idea of people who breathe only or mostly through their mouths (instead of their noses) as unintelligent brutes.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Some people use it specifically to refer to people with antisocial personality disorder or narcissistic personality disorder, or with the quasi-psychiatric categories of psychopathy or sociopathy (these are disputed). Often used metaphorically.(examples:, etc.)Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.Refers to people with intellectual, learning, or other mental disabilities.Refers to people with cerebral palsy or similar neurological disabilities.Can refer to any person with a disability.Usually refers to people with learning, intellectual, or developmental disabilities, but can mean any person with a disability. Usually a euphemistic phrase to avoid saying "disability" or "disabled."Refers to people with intellectual disabilities (i.e. "in a stupor").Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities.Refers to people with albinism. Most likely ableist when used as a noun by itself (e.g. "she's an albino").This is ableist specifically when used as a substitute for "self-centered" or "lacking empathy." It is not ableist if referring to someone who is actually autistic.This is ableist when it refers to people who are infertile, carries sexist connotations as well as ableist ones. It is not ableist if discussing agriculture/farming.This is ableist when used as a substitute for "switching very rapidly," "indecisive," or "shifting from one extreme to another" (e.g. "the weather here is so bipolar"). It is not ableist when referring to people who actually have bipolar disorder.This is ableist when used to imply a person seems mentally ill because they are unpleasant, toxic, abusive, or manipulative. It is not ableist when referring to people who actually have borderline personality disorder.Refers to people with psychosocial disabilities / mad people / mentally ill people, when experiencing altered states such as hearing voices, having intrusive thoughts, or experiencing paranoia. Often used as a metaphor.Refers to people experiencing various forms of depression. This becomes ableist when not referring to people actually experiencing depression, but merely as a shorthand for sad, upsetting, or disappointing.The term "impairment" is sometimes acceptable and sometimes not. Many (though not all) blind, low-vision, and limited-sight people find "visual impairment" or "vision impairment" offensive. Others describe themselves as visually impaired. Likewise, d/Deaf and hard of hearing people generally find "hearing impairment" offensive. Other disability communities use the word commonly, as in, "learning impairment," "cognitive impairment," or "functional impairment." Your mileage may vary.Refers to someone with bipolar (used to be called manic depression). (The word becomes ableist when not used to refer to someone actually experiencing mania or a manic state.)This is ableist when used to imply or state that a person is double-dealing, two-faced, manipulative, deceptive, or changing rapidly. It is sometimes, but not always, ableist when describe people who actually have dissociative identity disorder or who belong to multiple systems, depending on language preference of the particular people or systems involved.Refers to various neurotypes and psychosocial disabilities, like antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorders (becomes ableist when not referring to a person considered or known to have NPD)This is ableist when used as a substitute for "fastidious," "meticulous," "anal-retentive," or "high-strung." It is not ableist when referring to people who actually have obsessive-compulsive disorder.(examples:Appropriates description of a specific mental illness / psychosocial disability, frequently to describe hatred, fear, bigotry, or oppression, or else to describe something disliked or unpleasant. This is not ableist when it refers to someone who actually has a phobia such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia, emetophobia, etc.Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities. (The word "psychotic" becomes ableist when not used to refer to someone actually experiencing psychosis, either acute or chronic.)orThis is ableist when used as a substitute for "switching rapidly" or "acting without regard for others" or otherwise implying a person seems mentally ill simply because they are unpredictable or make someone uncomfortable. It is not ableist when actually referring to a person with schizophrenia or schizo-affective personality disorder.Can refer to any person with a disability. Often ableist because it assumes that being disabled always means suffering, when that is frequently not true. This is not ableist when it is a person's chosen description, or if it is describing a specific universally unwanted and painful experience (like having seizures).Refers to people with intellectual disabilities.Refers to people with mental, psychiatric, intellectual, or developmental disabilities.(more invective replacements that use profanity/swears are included at the very bottom in a separate list)AsinineBadBizarreBleakBoringBuckwildBullishCallousCarelessChaoticConfusingContemptibleCowardCrappyDenseDevoid of _____DisgustingDullEnragedEvilExtremistFuriousGrossHaywireHorribleIgnoramusIgnorantImpoliteInaneIncomprehensibleInconsiderateInconsistentInfuriatingInsensibleInsipidIrrationalJerkLacking in _____LividMeanNastyNefariousNonsenseNonsensicalObtuseOutrageousOverwroughtParadoxicalPatheticPetulantPissantPutridRage-inducingRecklessRidiculousRudeScornfulSelf-contradictoryShamefulSolipsisticSpuriousTerribleTyrannicalUnbelievableUnconscionableUnheard ofUninspiredUnoriginalUnthinkableUnthinkingVapidVileVomit-inducingWithout any _____ whatsoeverWretchedDisabledHas a disabilityWith a disabilityWith a chronic health conditionHas a chronic health conditionNeuroatypicalNeurodivergentPerson/people on the autism/autistic spectrumAutistic person/peoplePerson/people with autismAspie/AutieWith an intellectual disabilityHas an intellectual disabilityWith a cognitive disabilityHas a cognitive disabilityBlindLow visionDeafHard of hearingDeafBlindDeafDisabledWith a physical disabilityWith a mobility disabilityUses a wheelchairIn a wheelchairUses crutchesUses a caneUses a walkerHas/With [specific condition here]Anti- [group] -nessAnti - [group] oppression[group] antagonism / antagonisticBias against [group]Bigotry against [group]Hate of [group][group] misia / misicPrejudice against [group]- Some examples of the above for trans people: anti-transness, anti-trans, anti-trans oppression, trans-antagonism, trans-antagonistic, bias against trans people, bigotry against trans people, hate of trans people, transmisia, transmisic, prejudice against trans people(directly below)AsshatAssholeFuckerFuckfaceHalf-assedShittyI know a lot of people of various genders who align with feminist, womanist, and other anti-oppression politics have conflicting feelings about the term "douchebag" and its variations like "douchecanoe," "douchehat," etc.Some think it's fine because vaginas can naturally clean themselves without douching and therefore insults using the word douche are separate from people's genders or gendered actions. Others think it's misogynistic in general because a douche is something most often used by people with vaginas, whether trans or cis women, or trans men or nonbinary people (who are often forcibly misgendered as or assumed to be women if they have vaginas or are believed to have vaginas), and so the action of douching is gendered. Others think it's transmisogynistic specifically because trans women with constructed vaginas may need to use a douche because theirs may not clean naturally.People of all genders can douche, and people of all genders are harmed by misogynistic beliefs and expectations about what bodies should look like and what bodies should be able to do or not do. People who use feminist, womanist, and other anti-oppression frameworks will also sometimes disagree about which uses of language are most justice-oriented and which are not.Similarly, I've met a few people who argue that using "fuckface" is at least inadvertently contributing to rape culture since the insult assumes sexual violence. Plenty of others actively engaged in anti-sexual violence work disagree.