A new online style guide from the National Center on Disability and Journalism aims to provide context to the words we use when writing or talking about people living with disabilities.
The NCDJ’s updated style guide has more than 80 entries. Each entry features background on the term or phrase, the National Center on Disability and Journalism’s recommendation and what the Associated Press style is on the terminology — if the AP addresses it.
Changes in what is considered acceptable language and conflicts between identity-first and people-first language can leave editors and writers struggling to find the term that is both sensitive and accurate and understandable to the public at large.
“Because there’s no total agreement about language among the disability organizations, as a journalist you are walking that fine line,” said Kristin Gilger, associate dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, which houses the National Center on Disability and Journalism.
“I kept thinking, what would be useful for me. I want the context. I want to know if there is disagreement,” said Gilger, who was part of a group that worked on the guide.
Gilger has been getting word out about the style guide by talking at conferences and to journalism organization. But she noted that while the NCDJ has the word journalism in its name, the style guide is for all communications professionals because it’s important to use nonoffensive language in all venues.
The NCDJ first did a style guide in 2008.
“The language on disability changes so quickly. We knew that the guide was getting outdated and needed some attention,” Gilger said. “We started the update about two years ago.”
The new style guide debuted late last year. Forty of the entries are words and phrases not addressed by the AP Stylebook.
The guide offers recommendations and notes when there is disagreement.
“It’s pretty different from what any other stylebook says because it doesn’t tell you what you have to do,” Gilger said.
Gilger used the example of the style guide’s entry on stuttering.
“Childhood onset fluency disorder is the preferred term by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” Gilger said. “But would readers know what that means?”
The style guide notes that the term is not widely known, and that the NCDJ recommends using stuttering. It also recommends people-first language.
“Do not refer to an individual as a stutterer. Rather, use people-first language, such as ‘a person who stutters,’” the guide says.
Gilger says people-centered language can sometimes be problematic from a copy editor’s perspective because it usually means more words.
“If you call someone an epileptic, you are defining them by their diagnosis. Our recommendation is not to refer to someone first and foremost by their disability,” Gilger said.
But she acknowledges that advocates of identity-first language don’t agree.
“What we often recommend is to ask the person how they want to be identified,” Gilger said. “If you can accommodate a preference and your audience will understand it, accommodate the preference.”
And the guide’s bottom-line recommendation is to refer to disability only if it’s relevant to the story being told.
The guide is online at the ncdj.org and also available as a PDF download on the website. The site also features an article titled “Terms to Avoid When Writing About Disability.”
