Why I Use and Advocate for Identity-First Language

You have probably noticed in posts throughout my Love Disabled Life blog that I often write "disabled people" rather than "people with disabilities." This is known as "identity-first" language and not "person-first" language. Identity-first language embraces disability as the identity of who a person is. The same as a person would do if they were referring to themselves racially or ethnically. For example, it is not standard phrasing to say "person with a Swedishness" (I am of Swedish heritage). Instead, you would say, Swedish person.

I understand why the person-first movement started. Early in the disability rights movement, it was typical for a person's disability or medical condition to supersede a person's identity in a very objectifying way. We weren't seen as people. We were seen as what was "wrong" with us. It was "that girl with Scoliosis, Jody," not "Jody, who has Scoliosis." Our personhood was negated completely. Obviously, this is not acceptable. In fact, it's just plain rude. So in an effort to de-objectify ourselves and provide more humanness of disabled people, person-first language was highly emphasized as the politically correct and preferred way to address a person who has a disabling condition.

But a new movement within the disability community is building momentum. The growing prominence of disabled people proudly accepting their disability and preferring to use identity-first language. We are saying that our disability shouldn't be an afterthought, made to be a subtext of our personhood. Moreover, that disability isn't a bad word. Look up the #SayTheWord on Twitter, and you will find tweets of a lot of people such as myself who choose and advocate for identity-first language.

At the end of the day, though, it is a choice. The disability community is not a monolith. Because disability touches all demographics: age, gender, race, etc., some individuals have different perspectives and life experiences. And those variations dictate how they identify with being disabled and their place (or not) in the community. It would be hypocritical for any disabled person to tell another disabled person how to self-identify because that is what we resent about non-disabled people doing to us.

How we want to be identified will continue to evolve from within ourselves. Once we, disabled people, more fully embrace the word "disabled," it will become less stigmatizing over time. Identifying as "disabled" also connects me to my disability culture and community. It is much more than a descriptive adjective. It is literally part of my DNA.

Words matter. Language matters. How we consciously choose to refer to ourselves, or request that others refer to us, means more than just a passing phrase or courteous greeting. Advocating for the use of identity-first language reinforces positive disability identity within ourselves and sends a message to the world that being disabled isn't just okay; it's something for which to be proud.

For more insightful and thoughtful articles on the difference between person-first and identity-first language, check out these links below.

From the Bustle: https://www.bustle.com/p/what-is-identity-first-language-should-you-use-it-74901

From the National Center on Disability and Journalism https://ncdj.org/2016/01/journalists-should-learn-to-carefully-traverse-a-variety-of-disability-terminology/