How to interact with Students with Disabilities in Courses

(Estimated to be a 5-minute read)

As faculty, there are a number of things you should know when discussing a student's disability and you can learn more about your legal obligations as well as expectations regarding confidentiality on the "Information for Faculty" page of the Student Accessibility Services' website. But let's talk about disability etiquette when interacting with your students. 

What is proper disability etiquette?

The key to disability etiquette is to remember that our students with disabilities are all full human beings, regardless of their abilities and should be treated as such. Do we say that a student has a disability or that a student is disabled? Is there a preferred way, and it is the same for all individuals? 

There is an important difference between the use of "have" and "be" here, and this has to do with how individuals choose to speak about themselves and about their identity. There might be instances where a student will use both "have" and "be" depending on the context. For example, a student might tell you that they are legally blind and also tell you that they have low-vision. The two terms convey the same information but low-vision is more of a diagnostic, and legally blind is a legal status. When in doubt, it is always best to ask your student what their preference is. 

The following information will provide you with more context and resources created by disability activists on disability etiquette. 

Or why person-first language doesn't always put the person first. Let's start with definitions:

Person-first language

Person-first language consists in putting the person before the disability. For example: "this person has a visual impairment." This used to be taught as the best practice for speaking about disabilities because the point of person-first language is to distinguish or tell apart the individual from their disability as a way to emphasize that the disability does not define the person or does not affect who they are, thus the use of "to have" and not "to be." Person-first language can also be referred to as people-first language. 

Identity-first language

Identity-first language seeks to recognize the role a disability plays in one's identity. For example: "a Deaf person." Identity-first language can be used to emphasize ties to a community such as the deaf community. It can be used to recognize the role of the disability in shaping someone's sense of identity and belonging to a rich community with a shared culture and history. Identity-first language is often preferred among members of the autistic, deaf, or blind communities. Identity-first language, can also be referred to as disability-first language.

Why person-first language doesn't always put the person first

In a blog post titled "Why person-first language doesn't always put the person first," disability rights activist Emily Ladau talks about her own experience as a disabled person and explains the difference between "person-first language" or PFL and "identity-first language" or IFL, discusses how they came about, and offers suggestions on how and when to use either of them. (This blog post was estimated to be a 6-minute read). 

The Association on Higher Education And Disabilities (AHEAD) provides further resources on language and discuss why they chose to adopt identity-first language for all their documents, as part of their commitment to social justice. 

The United Spinal Association compiled a useful guide on disability etiquette which they offer as plain text on their website and as a free downloadable PDF.  The guide is available in English, Spanish and Chinese. The United Spinal Association also created videos on the topic as well as a top 10 tips infographic that can all be found on their website.