Why Language Matters—Especially From Our Leaders

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a time when organizations and leaders often reaffirm their commitment to disability inclusion.

But inclusion is not measured only by awareness campaigns, hiring goals, public statements, or social media graphics. It is also reflected in the language we use—and in the harmful language we refuse to normalize.

Words matter.

They shape how disability is understood, how disabled people are treated, and whether our workplaces and communities feel welcoming or excluding. This is especially true when those words come from people in positions of leadership.

Harmful Language Goes Beyond One Word

Conversations about disability and language sometimes focus on a single slur, including the R-word. That word has a long and painful history of being used to demean people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and it should not be dismissed as harmless.

But the problem is much broader than one word.

Disability can be devalued through openly derogatory language, outdated terminology, casual expressions that use disability as an insult, and descriptions that portray disabled people as helpless, tragic, burdensome, or inspirational simply for living our lives.

Phrases such as “wheelchair-bound,” “suffers from,” or “confined to a wheelchair” can reinforce the assumption that disability is inherently limiting or miserable. Euphemisms such as “differently abled” or “special needs,” although often well-intended, may also feel patronizing or evasive to many disabled people. Even compliments can cause harm when they reduce someone to an inspirational story instead of recognizing that person’s expertise, work, and full humanity.

The goal is not to memorize a perfect list of words. Language preferences vary across individuals and disability communities. The goal is to understand the messages our words communicate—and to listen when disabled people tell us how they want to be described.

This Is Not About Politics. It Is About People.

Nothing turns me away from an article, book, blog post, video, or conversation faster than encountering language that treats another person’s identity as an insult.

Social media often makes the problem worse by allowing people to hide behind screens, disconnected from the people their words affect. When public figures, executives, educators, or other leaders use demeaning language, the harm becomes even greater.

It can create the false impression that this behavior is acceptable.

It is not.

Leaders set cultural norms. Their words extend far beyond one post, meeting, interview, or headline. Those words echo through workplaces, classrooms, playgrounds, online communities, and homes. They can reinforce dignity and belonging—or normalize ridicule, stereotypes, and exclusion.

Leadership comes with a responsibility to communicate with care because language from the top influences what others believe they are permitted to say and do.

Language Shapes Opportunity

The way we talk about disability affects more than feelings. It influences decisions.

When disabled people are consistently described as incapable, dependent, difficult, fragile, or burdensome, those assumptions can follow them into hiring decisions, accommodation conversations, performance evaluations, leadership development, and advancement opportunities.

Language shapes perception. Perception shapes behavior. Behavior shapes systems.

That is why disability-inclusive language belongs in workplace conversations about talent, leadership, culture, and belonging. Organizations cannot claim to support disability inclusion while tolerating language that diminishes disabled people.

Accessibility initiatives, NDEAM programming, inclusive hiring efforts, and employee resource groups lose credibility when everyday communication tells a different story.

Respecting How People Identify

One common misconception is that there is one universally correct way to talk about disability.

There is not.

Some people prefer person-first language, such as “person with a disability.” Others—including me—use identity-first language, such as “disabled person.” Many people move between the two depending on the setting, and different disability communities may have distinct preferences.

The most respectful approach is simple: follow the language a person uses for themselves. When you do not know, ask respectfully instead of making assumptions.

Inclusive language is not about avoiding the word “disability.” Disability is not a bad word. It is about refusing to use disability—or a disability-related identity—as shorthand for something broken, foolish, undesirable, or less worthy.

Five Ways Leaders Can Model Inclusive Language

1. Examine everyday expressions

Pay attention to casual phrases, jokes, metaphors, and descriptions that frame disability as an insult or a failure. Familiar language is not automatically harmless language.

2. Learn from disabled people

Lived experience is expertise. Include disabled employees, self-advocates, and disability-led organizations when developing communication guidance, training, policies, and public messages.

3. Respect individual preferences

Do not insist that person-first or identity-first language is always correct. Listen to how people describe themselves and reflect that language back to them.

4. Address harmful language when it happens

Silence can be interpreted as acceptance. Respond calmly, explain the impact, offer a more respectful alternative, and reinforce the expectations of your workplace or community.

5. Respond to correction with curiosity

Most of us will make mistakes. What matters is how we respond. Instead of becoming defensive or focusing only on intent, listen, acknowledge the impact, make the correction, and carry that learning forward.

NDEAM Must Be More Than a Message

NDEAM offers an important opportunity to recognize the contributions of disabled workers and strengthen disability inclusion. But those commitments must continue after October.

Disability inclusion is reflected in who gets hired, who receives support, who experiences belonging, who has access to development, and who is given the opportunity to advance. It is also reflected in whether disabled employees are respected in everyday conversations and represented accurately in organizational communications.

Inclusive language alone will not dismantle every barrier. But language can reinforce those barriers—or help us begin removing them.

Choosing our words thoughtfully is not about being “politically correct.” It is about recognizing the humanity, dignity, and expertise of the people around us. It is about creating cultures where no one’s identity is treated as a punchline, an insult, a tragedy, or someone else’s inspiration.

Every person deserves respect.

Every disabled person deserves to be spoken to—not spoken against or spoken for.

And every leader should understand that their words do more than communicate a message. Their words help shape the culture the rest of us are asked to live and work in.

This NDEAM, let’s make our language part of the inclusion we promise—and carry that commitment forward all year long.