People First vs Identity First Language: Creating a world of acceptance, understanding, and clarity for all abilities

— Ryan Hill

Introduction:

People First and Identity First Language! What are they? What do they refer to? What do they mean for the disability community? How can you figure out who would generally prefer to use what type of language over the other? People First and Identity First Language are two different types of language that describe people with disabilities. Both have historically been used to describe people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities in different ways. They represent ways that disability could be viewed through a more inclusive and welcoming lens. These types of language replace older types of language that were meant to demean and dehumanize people with disabilities. These included derogatory terms and slurs based on misunderstandings about people with disabilities and what was thought to be true about them. People First and Identity First Language have been developed on different ideas and understandings about how to both address and view someone with a disability and how they would like to be identified. It is for those in the non-disability community to know and understand how anyone with disabilities or naturally differing abilities would like to be known through it. This always starts with knowing the person and their preferences for having their disability addressed.

People First Language:

People First Language is a type of language used to describe people with disabilities. It addresses someone first before identifying their disability. The strategy behind this is to separate someone from their disability or naturally differing ability. People who use this language believe that people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities are more than that in all their complexities. People First Language is often used by people who are allies to the disability community or who serve for institutions designed to provide services to people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. This type of language was developed in the Late Twentieth Century to replace or eliminate older language meant to discriminate or degrade people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. People first language was one of the first strategies or actions taken to create more inclusive and welcoming language to describe people with disabilities. This type of language was even used in landmark disability laws passed in the 1990s including the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act of 1990 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act of 1990. People First Language later began showing in schools, disability service institutions, medical settings, and in other public buildings.

People First Language has been viewed as a helpful strategy to view people with disabilities as people who are also human and succeeding in the world. Their disability is never meant to hold them back towards anything in life and can lead a life of their own through various levels of support. People with disabilities or naturally differing abilities who use this language would prefer not to use any language that directly identifies their disability. They may prefer to live without always being directly identified with their disability or naturally differing ability. It is not something that they always want to live with everyday through the eyes of other people. As the Stark County Board of Developmental Disabilities points out below:

“The main objective is to promote respect, dignity, and inclusivity when referring people with disabilities, medical conditions, or other differences. People-first language prioritizes the person over their condition or identity, emphasizing the individual before the descriptor.

For instance, instead of saying “a disabled person,” people-first language would encourage saying “a person with a disability.” The idea is to recognize the person first and then refer to their specific condition or characteristic.”

Using this type of language can be helpful to use in different situations involving people with disabilities. It often depends on who you speak to in the disability community. Many people in the disability community often prefer to use or have person-first language used towards them. To know if they would prefer to use this type of language is to always ask them first.

Identity-First Language:

Identity-First Language is another type of language used within the disability community. This type of language is used to identify someone as having a disability be a part of them. Your disability or naturally differing ability is a part of who you are and can never be changed. Identity-First Language recognizes someone with a disability or naturally differing ability as being human and that nothing should ever be separated or changed about them. People with disabilities or naturally differing abilities who use this type of language always prefer to be identified with their disability or naturally differing ability. They know that it is part of their human complexion and guides their every decision and movement in life. Your disability or naturally differing ability defines a part of your existence and does not signify that are not less for anything as a result.

People who use identity-first language often prefer terms or phrases that directly identify them with their disability. They are often content with living with their disability or naturally differing ability and never want other people to separate it for them. Someone’s disability or naturally differing ability can be something that one could always live with. It will never leave anyone for as long as they live. Someone’s disability or naturally differing ability is a part of one’s existence on this planet. As the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network carefully words below:

“Words and language are powerful tools by which an individual can express ideas, whether abstract, actionable, or concrete. As a writer and editor, I know firsthand that language and the meanings we attach to words very much impact, influence, develop, and change the attitudes that we have toward the subjects of discussion. That is why people are easily insulted or upset by word choices. Changing a phrase — even if it holds the same literal meaning — alters the subtle connotations and nuances of the speech, and communicates a different meaning and context than the original phrasing.

Autism, however, is not a disease. It is a neurological, developmental condition; it is considered a disorder, and it is disabling in many and varied ways. It is lifelong. It does not harm or kill of its own accord. It is an edifying and meaningful component of a person’s identity, and it defines the ways in which an individual experiences and understands the world around him or her. It is all-pervasive.”

Using Identity-First Language can easily dispel any notion that any disability or naturally differing ability is a part of anyone that is meant to be cured or eliminated. It seeks to recognize that anyone is truly human and can be their own self with their disability or naturally differing ability. We too have a place to share in the world. Our disability only defines what we can bring to the world and forever contribute to its growth. Our identities are shaped by our human complexions, which therefore shape our experiences and interpretations of the world around us. We are not afraid to express what our identities are in all our forms.

People First vs Identity-First Language:

People First and Identity First Language represent two different kinds of language that the disability community uses to identify both themselves and their disability. They recognize someone’s disability in different ways that honor different people’s preferences for being identified. At the same time, they represent what different people view as inclusive and welcoming oral and written communication. People First and Identity First Language have long created a world that is more accepting and accessible towards people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. The words used in both types of language speak to the broader movement for inclusion and equity for people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. As the University of Kansas School of Education and Human Sciences summarizes: Words have power. Phrasing impacts meaning and perception. Proponents of person-first language advocate for conveying the humanity of disabled people over the disability. They often point to other qualifiers, such as “person with cancer” rather than “cancerous person.” That comparison alone speaks to the powerful ways that language shapes meaning. Unlike disability status, cancer is a disease and does not shape a person’s identity in the same way, for example, having autism does. Being “Muslim” or “African American” or “Jewish” or “disabled” are all characteristics that are essential to how a person experiences the world around them. A person cannot be separated from these identifiers.

It has been said that person-first language separates the disability from a person’s value or worth, suggesting that the disability is inherently negative, akin to a disease. In 1993, the National Federation of the Blind adopted a resolution opposing person-first language saying that the notion that “the word ‘person’ must invariably precede the word ‘blind’ to emphasize the fact that a blind person is first and foremost a person” as “totally unacceptable and pernicious” and resulting in the exact opposite of its purported aim, since “it is overly defensive, implies shame instead of true equality, and portrays the blind as touchy and belligerent.”³ Deaf-culture has long used “deaf-first language” as a way of celebrating the positive cultural identity that is associated.

As an alternative to person-first language, some in the disability community (especially self-advocates) have lobbied for wide adoption of “identity-first” language which is aligned with the minority model of disability, which asserts that disability is a diverse cultural experience and an essential identifier.⁴

People First and Identity First Language are used by different people for different reasons. In recent years it has become more widely accepted for many in the disability community to use identity-first language over people-first language. Using this type of language honor’s someone’s full identity or complexion as a human being with a disability. It does not separate anything about the person or their disability or naturally differing ability. If you meet someone who uses identity-first language to identify themselves, honor their language preferences and respect any opinions regarding their usage. By creating a space of respect and understanding, we can better accept who people are and what makes them human in this world.

Identity-First Language: What can make it better to use:

Identity-First Language can often be better to use towards many people who identify within the disability community. This includes people who identify as being Neurodivergent. This kind of language is designed to be fully inclusive, accepting, and respectful in its structure and word makeup. The phrases and words contained within it can create a world of understanding and openness through everlasting respect and safety. Identity-First Language takes someone’s disability and includes it in their overall complexion or human makeup. Those within the Neurodivergent and other disability communities honor people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities in all the ways that make them who they are. We all exist in this world for a reason. Who we are is how we will live throughout our lives. For many of us, that includes our disability or naturally differing ability. We can never be separated from it in anyway. Someone’s disability or naturally differing ability is something that one would always live with. We might live different lives from other people, but we are just as capable of being successful and contributing to society. As the Disability Law Center of Virginia points out: “Rather than viewing disability as something separate from the individual, identity first language incorporates disability into the person’s life totally, as a defining characteristic.  

Examples of identity first language are: “My best friend is autistic. My uncle is a wheelchair user.”

Instead of the ever popular “Person first, disability second,” chorus, identity first language aims for a more wholistic, streamlined approach. It incorporates the disability into the description of the individual first, right off the bat. Not as a secondary item, but a clarifying one.

Key factors that separate person first language from identity first language goes beyond just our word choice or our use in everyday life. It speaks (yes, pun intended here) to giving people agency over their selfhood. This may seem odd to those who’ve never had to consider their language before (some might even call that privilege) but I’m here to tell you that it matters.

I say this to drive home my last, most important, most passionate point. It’s not just the language you use. It is how you use it.”

Identity-First Language can always be better to use in a lot of different situations involving people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. It always depends on who you interact with and what their language preferences are. The style of language always places someone’s disability along the grounds of having control over their autonomy and livelihood. It emphasizes inclusive and equitable dialogue towards people with disabilities. At the same time, it fully replaces old and outdated terms and vocabulary that have historically been used against the disability community. Those terms were always used to maintain the historic system of exclusion and discrimination that still exists in many ways in our society.

Incorporating Identity-First Language more into our society:

To broaden the movement for inclusion and acceptance for people with disabilities in our society could come with more usage of identity-first language. This includes having the type of language incorporated into education, medical, government, transportation, dining, shopping, leisure, entertainment, and residential settings. Identity-First Language can come with creating a society where everyone truly honors and recognizes people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities as human and full citizens just like anyone else. It can be this type of language that we create customs, laws, policies, and precedents where everyone is accepted and revered just for being human and nothing else. We are not meant to be cured, redone, or separated for anything about us. Our disability or naturally differing ability can be a positive trait or gift that defines one part of our overall existence. For others it is something to live with, but that would not change anything else about what we bring to share with the world.

To incorporate identity-first language more into everyday society comes with truly understanding how words matter towards different people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. This should always include both oral and written communication. Creating a society where identity-first language is really used comes with being intentional in your word usage and letting those in power know how it can be structured for all of us to use. We can all be more inclusive when we choose to use certain words that really make someone with a disability or naturally differing ability feel seen and mattered. As The Arc of Minnesota carefully words: “ We are all familiar with “People First” or “Person-Centered” language. I have been working in the Disability Services field since 1996, and it is what I learned early on, and quickly adapted myself. “People First” language is intended to be respectful by putting the PERSON before their disability. An example of “People First” language is “they are a person with a disability.”

Now, many self-advocates are beginning to prefer and use “Identity First” Language. When I first started learning about it, I struggled with the concept, because of all I had been taught by the People First movement. An example of “Identity First” language is, “they are a disabled person.” It is meant to be a way to normalize disability as a natural part of the human condition and not something that has to be downplayed. Said another way, it is ok to be disabled, and self-advocates—and those who know them—are proud of who they are.

An impactful article for me was Cara Leibowitz’s piece “I am Disabled: On Identity First Vs People-First Language” for The Body Is Not an Apology. In it, Leibowitz writes,”In every community, there will always be exceptions. When in doubt, ask the person how they like to be described. Never make an assumption if you are in a position to ask. If you are referring to a broad community or to a person you can’t ask, I suggest you default to the language most commonly used by members of that community—not the language commonly used by parents or allies.”

Because “Identity First” language is becoming more and more favored by self-advocates in the disability community, The Arc Minnesota has started to use both “People First” and “Identity First” language in our publications. We provided training for staff on this, emphasizing that for now, it is not one or the other—everyone has a different opinion on the issue—so we will use both forms of identification in our communications.

Language matters, how we use it matters, and it is an important choice for us as an organization and for us as individuals. We are working to put together resources and educational materials—including finding ways to elevate the lived experience of disabled people themselves —so that our broader Arc community is informed and understands these two ways of identification. We welcome you to join us in this dialogue, and stay tuned for more information on this important topic!”

Language always matters in how we address people with disabilities or naturally differing abilities. That includes what words we use and how we use them. This has made the need for having Identity-First Language incorporated more into society even greater. It has come at a time when the disability self-advocacy and rights movements have expanded to include the usage of inclusive language towards the disability community. At the same time, this can come with challenging traditional norms and customs about what terms or vocabulary people may prefer to use to describe the disability community.

Note of Gratitude:

Thank you to everyone who has chosen to read this article. That includes all my fellow disability self-advocates and allies of the disability community. Identity First and People First Language are two types of language that we can use to address those who have disabilities or naturally differing abilities. They can both represent more welcoming and respectful dialogue that presents understanding, clarity, and openness towards anyone with disabilities and who they are in this world. If we are to create a more equitable and just world, ensuring that both types of language can always be used interchangeably is a charge that we all must take. At the same time, we must also recognize who may prefer using one type of language over the other. No one will always enjoy using the same type of language as other people do. We must always recognize how our words impact other people and who may prefer using what words and terminology to describe themselves and their disability or naturally differing ability. When we use our words intentionally and thoughtfully, we can truly create a more welcoming world for everyone of all abilities to access and live in.

-Ryan Hill

-The Arc of Northern Virginia