Person First Language
Put people first, not their disability. People with disabilities prefer that you focus on their individuality, not their disability. For example, the words “disabled people” define people as disabled first and people second. The term “people with disabilities” is the preferred usage since it stresses the humanity of individuals.
Emphasize abilities not limitations. Say “uses a wheelchair” rather than “confined to a wheelchair.”
Do not use generic labels for disability groups, such as “the retarded” or “the blind.” Emphasize people not labels. Say ”people with mental retardation” or “people who are blind.”
Do not sensationalize a disability by saying “afflicted with,” “crippled with,” “suffers from,” “victim of” and so on. Instead, say “person who has multiple sclerosis” or “man who had polio.”
Do not portray successful people with disabilities as super human. Portraying people with disabilities as superstars raises false expectations that all people with disabilities should achieve at this level.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Faculty/
http://www.ahead.org/