--especially for those of us with disabilities. KIP is here to empower disabled people with shared knowledge from our community of care.
Terminology
There a lot of words related to the disabled community and its members that are constantly changing as time goes on. It can be a bit confusing to try and navigate medical, social, historical, and slang terms without some guidance. This section is full of various terms, their definitions, and context if necessary.
Able-Bodied
A way to describe someone who does not identify as disabled or as living with a disability. It is most often used in contrast to "disabled" in government/legal documents.
Ableism
Discrimination and prejudice that is targeted at disabled people, stemming from the societal belief that bodies without disabilities are superior and should be the standard reference. It relies on harmful stereotypes and is often internalized.
Access
In relation to disability studies, this is the offering of tools and social integration to disabled people so that they are able to participate in opportunities that are afforded to those without disabilities.
Access Intamacy
A way to describe the feeling that comes with someone inherently understanding and smoothly accommodating a disabled person, relieving them from the burden of having to explain and advocate for their accommodations.
Accommodations
Often individualized changes or provided tools that remove a barrier that caused inequity for the person they are provided to. They are often viewed as helpful, but short-term solutions to larger, more ingrained issues within systems.
Asperger's
An outdated and inaccurate medical term for people with autism; sometimes also inaccurately referred to "high-functioning". It was created by a Nazi and eugenics supporter to decide which children were "better" than others.
Autism Wheel
A more modern and detailed representation of the traits and variability of autism that was created in response to the limiting of the linear autism spectrum, which often misrepresented those with autism as either "low" or "high" functioning.
Audism
Discrimination and prejudice against those who are Deaf, stemming from the belief that hearing and/or speaking are essential to a fulfilled life within society.
Blind
Medically defined as the condition of lacking visual perception in a way that fall under various visual acuity values. It has been further defined under a social model where the barriers presented by a sight-based society are their most disabling factor.
BodyMind
The concept that the relationship between the body and the mind are not separate, rather than are intrinsically connected. It emphasizes how physical and mental processes and experiences affect one another.
Caregiver/Caretaker
A person who provides assistance to someone who requires daily or almost daily support to someone else. They can be family, friends, hired professionals, or staff of a larger assisted living space. Caregiver is often the preferred term by the disabled community as to limit the detached and paternal connotation of the word.
D/deaf
Medically defined as a lack of hearing that falls under various hearing threshold values [deaf]. It has been further defined through a society/culture model where the barriers presented by a hearing-based society are their largest most factor [Deaf].
DeafBlind
Medically defined as a lack of hearing and vision under various auditory and visual thresholds. It has been further defined as a complex intersectional disability due to limit of access in a hearing and sighted dominated society.
Deaf Gain
A saying created by the Deaf community as a play on the medical term "hearing loss" to re-frame deafness not as a "loss/deficit" but as a valuable gain in culture, creation, and human diversity.
DeafSpace
An approach to architectural design centered around visual and tactile experiences rather than auditory-based ones.
DeafWorld
A term that encompasses the global Deaf community that shares common histories, languages, values, societal norms, and cultures. This centers deafness as a cultural identity rather than just a medically defined condition.
Dependency/Dependent
The state of or a person who relies on someone/something other than themselves for support in daily life. It is often associated with disabled people in ways that limit their overall autonomy. Disability scholars define it as a condition from societal/political barriers rather than personal deficits.
Differently-Abled
A term that was originally created in response to the negative connotation associated with the medical labeling of disabled. However, the term is now not preferred as it is often patronizing, vague, and more for the comfort of those who are not disabled than those that are.
Disability
Medically defined as any condition that limits a person's ability to preform activities or interact with their environment. It has been further defined under a social model where it is a societal barrier that causes limitations, while a physical condition that effects someone is defined as an impairment.
Disability Inclusion
The movement and efforts to provide disabled people the tools they would need and removal of barriers to equally participate in work, school, and their communities. This addresses surface-level and immediate access rather than more ingrained systemic issues.
Disability Justice
A movement that centers around the experiences of marginalized disabled community members as well as pushing further than just legal correction to address ableism, capitalism, and oppression towards an equitable society.
Disability Rights
A movement for the autonomy, recognition, and protection of disabled people in the view of the law. It is also used as an umbrella term to cover all of the law that has been enacted for the civil rights of disabled people.
Disabled
Medically defined as a person with a condition that limits their ability to perform activities or interact with their environment. It has further been defined as a social status created by systematic barriers. It is also used as an identity that embraces a disability as a core part of who someone is.
Diversity
In relation to disability studies, it is the inclusion of disabled people as a natural and essential part of human variation that intersects with race, gender, and class.
DSM-5
The Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: 5th Edition (DSM-5) is a manual of the classification of mental health disorders created by the American Psychiatric Association. While it is used by professionals, it is criticized for its over-simplistic categorization of symptoms and pharmaceutical influence.
Eugenics
The belief in trying to improve the genetic "quality" of a population. It has been used to justify forced sterilization, immigration restriction, and genocide. Disabled people have and are often the first to be targeted by practices based in it, both consciously and unconsciously.
Euthanasia
The act of ending a person's life to relieve pain and suffering. It is debated over within the disabled community as some see it as a right of autonomy while others hold concerns about the lack of access to proper support systems that may cause someone to feel as their only choice is to die.
Gene Editing
A form of genetic engineering that inserts, deletes, or replaces DNA in a living organism. It is debated over in the disabled community as while it could be used to treat painful symptoms, it can also be used for prenatal selection and genetic editing that is rooted in ableism and will harm disabled rights.
Identity First Laguage
A way of referring to someone who has a disability that places their identity as disabled before the word person ["disabled person"]. Many in the disabled community prefer this usage as it poses their disabled identity as an inseparable part of themselves.
IEPs
Individualized Education Plans: Plans that are created to help disabled students have equal access to education by providing the support the help they need in the classroom or additional instruction. They are required to be offered by law under the larger Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Ill/Illness
Medically defined as a state of poor health of the body or mind. In relation to disability studies, it is an individual's lived experience of their bodily state and how it interacts with society.
Infantilization
This is the act of treating those outside of childhood age, as if they were still children. This is common treatment that disabled people encounter due to various stereotypes and societal expectations that view disabled people as complete dependents.
Inspiration Porn
A way of portraying or presenting disabled people/characters that centers around what they are able to achieve "in spite of" their disability in a way that servers as reassurance for non-disabled people.
Institutionalization
In relation to disability studies, it is the act of placing a disabled person in a facility for further, more specialized care. Historically, many of these institutions were under funded and staffed as well as subjected their residents to unnecessary pain and a loss of individuality, leading to the movement against them.
Invisible Disability
A disability that is not obviously physically visible or tangible to others. Those with these disabilities are often subject to harsher criticisms and misinformation about their conditions.
Masking
A way to adopt new and/or hide natural behaviors in order to be seen as more similar to those around a person. It is a common behavior in neurodivergent people who many use it as a strategy to avoid judgement or rejection. Long term use of this can lead to burnout, anxiety, and depression.
Medicalization
The process of human behaviors and conditions becoming defined and treated as medical issues to be cured. This adds to the alienation of disability as something separate, rather than natural human diversity.
Neuroatypical
Referring to a person who has a brain structure that is different from the medically defined norm. They many also have a diagnosed mental health condition, but it is not required as this is from a physical perspective.
Neurotypical
Referring to a person who has a brain structure that does not differ from medically defined norms.
Neurodivergent
A term to refer to anyone who has a brain that functions differently than the medically defined way for the brain to function. This covers those with diagnosed mental health conditions.
Neurodiversity
The biological concept that all brains differ in some ways from each other, creating natural cognitive diversity that cannot be defined by one single norm.
Neurodiversity Paradigm
A disability studies concept that views neurological conditions not as disabilities, but as natural variation in human brains. It places strong importance on the value of cognitive diversity and the idea of a "normal" brain standard.
Neurospicy
A slang term created by the online neurodivergent community as a more fun, less clinical way of saying "neurodivergent".
Ocularcentrism
Discrimination and prejudice against those who are Blind, stemming from the belief that seeing is are essential to a fulfilled life within society.
Oralism
Discrimination and prejudice against those who are mute/non-speaking, stemming from the belief that verbal speech is essential to a fulfilled life within society.
Person First Language
A way of referring to someone who has a disability that places
a person before their identity as disabled ["person with a disability"]. This stemmed from a push to remind people that disabled people were still people and is mainly used in medical/legal documentation.
Protactile
A touch based language that was created by and used in the DeafBlind community. It takes advantage of the contact space on the body to not rely on visual or auditory ques.
Rehabilitation
In relation to disability studies, it is the process of actions aimed at helping a person regain and/or maintain their desired state in life. Medically, it is viewed as a process of fixing something to a fully restored state that often does not account for individual thoughts, feelings, and experiences.
Sick/Sickness
Medically, it is defined as a state of declined health from a person's normal state. In relation to disability studies, it is defined as a lived experience and societal role that is related to how society treats and views health differences.
Super-Crip
A way of portraying or presenting disabled people/characters that centers around their ability to "overcome" their disability to integrate into society as it is and preform daily tasks. It is often intended to motivate non-disabled people.
Temporarily Able-Bodied
A way of referring to non-disabled people created by the disabled community that stems from the idea that no one is truly not disabled for their entire life and can become disabled at any moment.
Visability
In relation to disability studies, this is the concept of disabled people being both physically and metaphorically seen and understood by non-disabled people and society.
504s
Plans that are created to help disabled students have equal access to education by providing the support the help they need in the classroom rather than separating them into individualized instruction. They are required to be offered by law under the larger Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Phrases
The phrases below are from, commonly used in, or encountered by the disabled community.
"Equity over equality."
An expression of the differences between equity (giving resources based on individual circumstances and needs) and equality (giving everyone the exact same resources). The disabled community advocates for equity to address and properly accommodate the vast diversity of disability.
"Not accessible? Not Acceptable."
A way to express the barriers to access that are commonly encountered and interfere with the daily life of disabled people, and how they should be addressed because disabled people are a part of society.
"Nothing about us, without us."
Stemming from the historical ignoring of lived experiences of disabled people in favor of detached medical definitions of disability that often caused or were rooted in ableism, this emerged to express the need for serious consideration of lived disabled experiences.
"Our homes, not their homes."
An expression of the right for disabled people to be able to live autonomously in their own homes, rather than in institutions or group homes. It is a movement for the right to decide where and how they want to live.
"What happened to you?"/"What is wrong with you?"
An expression commonly said by those who do not identify as disabled to those who are visually disabled. It stems from the ablest belief of the non-human nature of disabled people and the right to their history.
Warning
Terms listed below the encircled exclamation point under this statement are of a more sensitive nature. They have meanings and usages that have been used to hurt others or have been found offensive. While knowledge is important, that does not mean that kindness cannot co-exist in the same space. Please use caution when exploring these terms for both your own sake and that of others.
Apsie
A shortening of the term Asperger's that was used to refer to those with the diagnosis. It was often used in a derogatory way by those without autism, but has been reclaimed by some as a part of their identity.
'Common Sense' Eugenics
A branch of eugenic belief that the removal of disabled people or those deemed "unfit" by various means should be seen as "common sense" by the wider population. It is sometimes used to try and justify ableism.
Cripple/Crippled/Crip
An outdated medical term and its shortening that were eventually used in derogatory ways. Many in the disabled community have reclaimed these terms to celebrate their diversity and take power away from ableism.
Crazy/Mad/Insane/Freak
Outdated medical terms that were eventually used in derogatory ways. Many in the disabled and neurodivergent communities have reclaimed there terms to re-frame their conditions as an important part of themselves rather than deficits.
Deformed/Deformity
A term that has been historically used as a societal construct to categorize, as well as assign moral and aesthetic value to those with visible conditions. It has often been held with a negative connotation in relation to personhood.
Midget
A term that was popularized due to Victorian "freak shows" where people with dwarfism were put on display for others amusement. It is seen as a slur, and those with dwarfism prefer terms like "little person", or "person with dwarfism".
Monster/Monstrous/Monstrosity
Terms that are used to label something as extraordinarily ugly, shocking and malformed/deformed. Historically, they have been used in conjunction with or to refer to disabled people, especially during the Victorian period of "freak shows".
Retard
An outdated medical term that eventually became used in a derogatory way. This is still defined as a slur by the disabled community and is often still used by others in a way that inherently denies their bodymind autonomy.