There are two common ways to refer to disabled individuals: identity-first language (“disabled person”) and person-first language (“person with a disability”). Both of these forms of language are fine to use, but this article will use identity-first language. Identity-first language is a growing preference among Disabled people, especially people who engage in anti-ableist and disability justice work.

This was surprising to me. During some of my volunteer work I thought I was being “good” by using the person-first language (e.g. “My team is 3D printing AT for use by people living with disabilities.”).

This has come up for me in the last few years in a slightly different disability context. Color blindness. I hadn’t even thought about color blindness inclusivity as a necessity for not just web applications but also architecture diagrams until having a boss who was had color blindness. I now try to consider accessibility for those with color blindness whenever I do software design work and encourage the awareness in others but, unfortunately, have yet to find many good resources.