Disability etiquette involves treating a person with disabilities with respect, and without making assumptions about what that person can or cannot do. This page presents an overview of disability etiquette for providers and caregivers, including the use of “people first” language when addressing a person with disabilities.
Resources Created by DADS
- Best Practice Guidelines: Disability Etiquette (PDF)
- Person First Respectful Language (PDF) is a guide for communicating with people who have disabilities in a way that emphasizes their values, individuality and capabilities.
Resources from Other Organizations
- Basic Disability Etiquette Tips (PDF), Parent Advocacy Center Educational Resources , provides 14 tips for interacting with people who have disabilities.
- Disability Etiquette 101 discusses how to interact with people who have mobility impairments, visual impairments, deafness, speech disabilities and hidden disabilities.
- Disability Etiquette: Tips for Speaking Engagements (MS Word) covers communication tips that are applicable in any setting.
- Disability Etiquette: Tips on Interacting with People with Disabilities (PDF) includes basic interaction principles as well as detailed information that apply to people with a range of disabilities including mobility and sensory impairments, developmental and psychiatric disabilities, HIV/AIDS, learning disabilities, Tourette’s syndrome, and others.