Why I Hate Person-First Language

There are a lot of people, usually able-bodied, who use person-first language (i.e. "person with a disability" instead of "disabled person") because they think it's progressive. It seems especially common with parents of disabled children, occupational therapists, and others who interact regularly with disabled people but are not disabled themselves. It's unfortunate, because person-first language is actually incredibly ableist.

Person-first language perpetuates the idea that disability is bad, by suggesting that disability can and must be separated from someone’s humanity. Disability doesn't work like that, though. When I say I’m disabled, I’m saying that my disability is part of who I am. It’s part of my identity. Calling someone a disabled person isn’t saying that their only identifying factor is that they’re disabled, any more than describing someone as a woman or as queer would indicate that those identities encompassed their whole self. 

Disabled people are always warned not to “become” our disabilities, but it’s really a warning against embracing that part of our identity. What they’re actually saying is that they don’t understand how disability could be positive. They’re saying that disability is bad, that it’s not really part of who we are, that it’s a separate entity keeping us from our real selves. And that is not true.

I know there are some disabled people out there who prefer person-first language, and I will of course respect what people want to be called, but before able-bodied people go around patting themselves on the back for using person-first language, they should consider what their words imply.