Within the disability community, there is an ongoing conversation about the language used to talk about disability experiences. For example, historically, there is a conversation about if it is best to use person-first (person with a disability) or identity-first (disabled person) language. However, there is no definite answer to this conversation; WILAA outlines below the disability language we use.
Given WILAA’s primary audience is practitioners, we will use person-first language when talking about disability from a broad perspective. This decision means that when we use language to talk about the experiences of a group of people with diverse types of disabilities. For example, this will happen when talking about the disability community or people with disabilities at a particular institution.
When WILAA materials talk about a specific group or person, we will take direction from the person or group about the type of language used. This decision means that some of our materials might be in person-first or identity-first language.
Please feel free to contact us with any concerns you have about the language we use on this website and our other materials. We are always looking for new ways to improve our language.
WILAA Community of Practice 