Language and Disability Representation

The way language represents disability reveals deep-seated social attitudes about normality, capability, and value. Language can pathologise, patronise, and marginalise disabled people — or it can challenge stereotypes and affirm identity. This lesson examines the key debates about disability representation in language, including the person-first vs. identity-first debate, the euphemism treadmill, and the medical vs. social model of disability.

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Models of Disability

The way disability is understood — the conceptual model used — fundamentally shapes the language used to talk about it.

The Medical Model

The medical model treats disability as an individual problem — a deficiency, abnormality, or condition that resides within the person and needs to be cured or fixed.

Language associated with the medical model:

• "Suffers from" cerebral palsy
• "Wheelchair-bound" / "confined to a wheelchair"
• "Afflicted with" autism
• "A victim of" multiple sclerosis
• "Handicapped," "invalid," "crippled"

This language constructs disabled people as passive victims defined by their medical conditions. The verbs ("suffers," "afflicted," "confined") construct disability as inherently negative and the disabled person as lacking agency.

The Social Model