List of disability-related terms with negative connotations

The following is a list of terms, used to describe disabilities or people with disabilities, which may carry negative connotations or be offensive to people with or without disabilities.

Some people consider it best to use person-first language, for example "a person with a disability" rather than "a disabled person."^[1] However identity-first language, as in "autistic person" or "deaf person", is preferred by many people and organizations.^[2]

Language can influence individuals' perception of disabled people and disability.^[3] Views vary with geography and culture, over time, and among individuals. Many terms that some people view as harmful are not viewed as hurtful by others, and even where some people are hurt by certain terms, others may be hurt by the replacement of such terms with what they consider to be euphemisms (e.g., "differently abled" or "special needs"). Some people believe that terms should be avoided if they might hurt people; others hold the listener responsible for misinterpreting terms used without harmful intent.^{[citation needed]} For example, crazy should be avoided in describing persons or their behaviors, but is less likely to cause offense if used as an intensifier as in "crazy speed".^[4]

For some terms, the grammar structure of their use determine if they are harmful. The person-first stance advocates for saying "people with disabilities" instead of "the disabled" or "a person who is deaf" instead of "a deaf person".^[5][6][7] However, some advocate against this, saying it reflects a medical model of disability whereas "disabled person" is more appropriate and reflects the social model of disability.^[8] On the other hand, there is also a grammar structure called identity-first language that construes disability as a function of social and political experiences occurring within a world designed largely for nondisabled people.^[9]

Contents: 

• Top
• A
• B
• C
• D
• E
• F
• G
• H
• I
• J
• K
• L
• M
• N
• O
• P
• Q
• R
• S
• T
• U
• V
• W
• X
• Y
• Z
• References

A

Term	Notes	References
A few sandwiches short of a picnic	Used of people perceived as having reduced or limited mental faculties. Numerous derivatives with no known original (e.g. "a few books short of a library").	[citation needed]
Able-bodied	There is an implied value judgement comparing a person with a disability versus one without	[10]
Abnormal		[11]
Addict		[12]
Afflicted		[10]
Attention-seeking	Used of people who are suffering emotionally	[13]
Autistic	Or autism, when used as an insult	[14]

B

Term	Notes	References
Batty		[15]
Birth defect		[10]
Blind	Especially when used metaphorically (e.g., "blind to criticism") or preceded by "the", although "the blind" is considered acceptable by many blind people and organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind.	[6][16][17][18]
Bonkers		[15]
Brain damaged		[19]

C

Term	Notes	References
Challenged		[20]
Crazy		[6][16][21][22]
Crazy cat lady	Used of mentally ill and neurotic women, particularly single women and spinsters who hoard cats.	[23]
Cretin		[citation needed]
Cripple	"A person with a physical or mobility impairment". Its shortened form ("crip") has been reclaimed by some people with disabilities as a positive identity.	[6][7][17][24]
Confined to a wheelchair	Implies helplessness, and that someone is to be pitied.	[7]

D

Term	Notes	References
Daft	People considered nonsensical or feckless	[15][23]
Deaf and dumb or Deaf-mute		[6][16][17][22]
Deaf to X		[15]
Defective	Or other uses of "defect"	[10]
Deformed		[6]
Delusional		[25]
Demented	People with dementia	[10]
Deranged or mentally deranged		[6]
Derp	Considered by some sites to refer to people with intellectual disabilities	[23]
Differently abled		[7][23]
Dim or dim-witted		[25]
DALYs/DFLYs/QALYs: Disability or Quality Adjusted (or Free) Life Years	Suggests that a nondisabled person's life years are worth more than a disabled person's	[26]
The Disabled or Disabled people	May be offensive to some,[1][17][22] who may prefer "person with a disability" or "people with health conditions or impairments".[7] However, many people prefer "disabled person" or "disabled people", in part due to the social model of disability.[27][28][29]
Disorder		[30]
Dotard		[31]
Downie	Used of people with Down Syndrome. A Dutch profanity sometimes appearing in English as "downy" and generally considered derogatory	[32]
Dumb	Especially when preceded by "the"	[17][22]
Dummy and dumb	Used of people with mental disabilities, or more generally people perceived as stupid or ignorant. Once used to describe people incapable of speaking, suggestive of an insulting mannequin-like or ventriloquist's dummy-like appearance.	[33][34]
Dwarf		[10]

E

Term	Notes	References
Epileptic		[35]
Exceptional		[36]

F

Term	Notes	References
Feeble-minded or Feeb		[6][16]
Fit	In reference to an epileptic seizure	[6]
Flid	People with phocomelia from birth mother's use of thalidomide	[37]
Freak		[25][38]

G

Term	Notes	References
Gimp or gimpy	A limp or a person with a limp	[21][22]

H

Term	Notes	References
Handicapped	Especially when preceded by "the" or "physically"	[7][16][17]
Handicapable		[20]
Hare lip		[6]
Hearing-impaired		[39]
Homebound		[40]
Hunchback, or "humpback"	Especially when referring to people with scoliosis or kyphosis. Generated controversy after the 1990s release of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (see Quasimodo below).	[41][42][43][44]
Hyper		[20]
Hyper-sensitive		[45]
Hysterical	Typically used in reference to women	[46]

I

Term	Notes	References
Imbecile	Was originally the diagnostic term used for people with IQ scores between 30 and 50 when the IQ test was first developed in the early 1900s. It is no longer used professionally. Before the IQ test was developed in 1905, "imbecile" was also commonly used as a casual insult towards anyone perceived as incompetent at doing something.	[47][48][6]
Incapacitated		[6]
Idiot	Was originally the diagnostic term used for people with IQ scores under 30 when the IQ test was first developed in the early 1900s. It is also no longer used professionally. Before the IQ test was developed in 1905, "idiot" was also commonly used as a casual insult towards anyone perceived as incompetent at doing something.	[47][48][6]
Illiterate	Now considered imprecise and blames the person for something caused by the condition of the educational system.	[49]
Inmate	When referring to a psychiatric admission	[12]
Insane		[25]
Inspirational or inspiring	When used about somebody doing a very ordinary activity, a phenomenon of spectacle known as "inspiration porn" that is based on pity; not to be confused with legitimate public activities of mass spectacle such as Special Olympics or Paralympics, which celebrate talent without pity or mockery.	[50]
Invalid		[6][16]

J

Term	Notes	References
Junkie		[12]

L

Term	Notes	References
Lame	In reference to difficulty walking or moving. The term has since been adopted into urban slang to generally refer to something or someone as "meaningless" or "without worth", e.g. "He told us a lame excuse for why he had not done the work."	[6][21][22]
Losing one's mind		[25]
Losing / Lost one's marbles		[citation needed]
LPC – Likely to become a public charge		[51]
Lunatic or looney		[6]

M

Term	Notes	References
Mad, madman, madwoman	Some individuals with mental illness tend to use this term to change the negative stigma surrounding it (see Mad Pride)	[6][12][25][52]
Mad as a hatter or Mad hatter	Derogatory term (referring to a mentally ill person or a person with brain damage and dementia caused by heavy metal poisoning) popularized especially due to the fictional character of the same name	[53]
Maniac		[6]
Mental, mentally deficient, mental case or mentally ill		[6][15][16][22]
Midget		[16]
Mong, Mongol, Mongoloid, or Mongolism	Used of people with Down syndrome	[6][16][20][54]
Moron, moronic		[6][15]
Munchkin	See "Midget" above. A term derived from the 1930s feature film The Wizard of Oz which had a cast of Little Persons.	[55]
Mute		[20]
Mutant	referring to someone with an uncommon genetic mutation	[56]

N

Term	Notes	References
Narc, narcissist	Does not mean the same as abuser	[13][57]
Not the brightest bulb / Not the sharpest tool in the shed	Mentally disabled derogatory term	[citation needed]
Nut, nuts, or nutter, nuthouse, etc.		[23][25]

O

Term	Notes	References
Out to lunch	Mentally disabled derogatory term	[58][59]

P

Term	Notes	References
Patient		[6]
Paraplegic		[10]
Psycho(tic)		[16]
Psychopath	A dated term used for a person with a mental illness	[60]

Q

Term	Notes	References
Quasimodo	Translates to "half-formed" or more commonly "deformed", and made infamous by the fictional character Quasimodo, a deformed man with kyphosis who later appeared in a popular Disney film in the 1990s (see Hunchback above)	[43]

R

Term	Notes	References
Retard/Retarded	Before the 1990s this was considered acceptable by most non-disabled people and organizations.[61] Also known as the r-word.[62]	[6][7][21][22]

S

Term	Notes	References
Scatterbrained		[63]
Schizo	Especially as an adjective, meaning "erratic" or "unpredictable" or, for the former two, to refer to an individual	[64][65][66][67]
Schizophrenic	When referring to an individual	[10]
(has a) Screw loose	British slang term that originally meant eccentric, neurotic or slightly mentally ill; generally considered offensive to mentally ill people	[68][69]
Senile		[10]
Slow		[70]
Sluggish		[63]
Sociopath		[60]
Spastic/Spaz	Especially in the UK and Ireland. Previously referred to muscle spasticity or a person with cerebral palsy, which may involve muscle spasms. Also used to insult someone uncoordinated or making jerking movements.	[6][17][22]
Special		[20]
Special needs		[71]
SPED	An acronym of "special ed" (short for "special education")	[72]
Stone deaf		[73][better source needed]
Stricken		[11]
Stupid		[74]
Subnormal		[20]
Supercrip		[75]
Sufferer		[7][76]

T

Term	Notes	References
Tard	Short for "retard"; see retard above.	[77]
Thick		[78]
Tone deaf		[73]

U

Term	Notes	References
Unclean		[79]
Unfortunate		[45]
Unhinged		[80]

V

Term	Notes	References
Victim of an ailment		[6][16][22][76]
Vegetable		[81]
Vegetative state		[82][83]

W

Term	Notes	References
Wacko		[11]
Wheelchair bound and "confined to a wheelchair"	Preferred use is "person who uses a wheelchair"	[6][7][16][17][22]
Window licker		[84][85]

Y

Term	Notes	References
Yuppie flu	Used as a pejorative term for chronic fatigue syndrome. This originated from the media stereotype of people with CFS as ambitious, young, and affluent, rather than having a genuine illness.	[86]

See also

• Ableism
• List of age-related terms with negative connotations
• List of ethnic slurs