15 Disability Terms you Should Know
(and teach your whole school)
Do students & staff at your school have an understanding of ableism & how different disabilities may present?
It starts with awareness, and then comes acceptance. Here are some important terms you should know (and spread!) the knowledge of, so you can help advance disability awareness in your school or community. Ableism is widespread, and many people just don’t have exposure to why it is so important to change our language and learn the most current terminology
#1 Ableism
The discrimination of and social prejudice against the disabled community, based on the belief that typical abilities are superior.
#2 Accommodations
Describes anything that supports a person’s learning or ability to complete a task. Accommodations remove a barrier.
#3 Accessibility
Describes the design of products, devices, services, vehicles or environments os as to be usable by people of ALL abilities.
#4 Invisible Disability
Any disability that you cannot physically see, such as autism, ADHD, chronic pain conditions, epilepsy, TBI, diabetes, mental health conditions, etc.
#5 Physical Disability
Affects a person’s body or the way they can move their body. They can be inherited or caused by an accident or serious illness, and can be invisible or visible.
#6 Neurodiversity
The idea that it’s acceptable & celebrated for people to have diverse brains. Neurodiversity embraces all differences.
#7 Neurodivergent
Describes a person with a diverse brain, who differs in mental or neurological function from the majority of people.
#8 Neurotypical
Describes a person with what is considered a typical brain. A neurotypical person is not neurodivergent.
#9 Neurodiverse
Describes how groups of people have different neurotypes, or brains. Any group of people could be described as neurodiverse, because everyone has a different brain.
#10 Masking
The suppression of one’s true self by neurodivergent people, to appear more neurotypical.
#11 Developmental Disability
A disability that begins when a child is developing, resulting in differences in learning, language, and/or behavior . . . generally lifelong & impacts day-to-day life.
#12 Intellectual Disability
A cognitive impairment in comprehension or in using spoken/written language, that manifests itself in a person’s ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.
#13 Identity-First Language
Many disabled people prefer to use Identity-first language, such as saying “Autistic person” instead of “person WITH autism” (person-first language). It’s always best to defer to the person as to which language they prefer.
#14 Person-First Language
Some people with disabilities prefer to use person-first language, such as saying “HE HAS diabetes” vs “HE IS DIABETIC,” (identity-first Language). It’s always best to defer to the person as to which language they prefer.
#15 Mental Health Conditions
Affect how a person thinks, behaves, feels, and interacts with others. Often referred to as mental illness or mental health disorders.
Whew! So there you have it. Now we need your voices!
Want some visual reminders for your community / school? Please grab one of my free posters on Ableism or Ending the Use of the R-Word to help spread the word! These posters are all geared towards middle, high school, college, and/or adults. Let’s work together to end ableism!
If you need even more posters, check out my set of 15 posters on Disability Awareness (pictured above). These have been used and loved by schools all over, and I hope they help your community as well!
