# Choose language that benefits everyone

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When writing about people with disabilities or about accessibility, be mindful
about using unintentionally biased language that may cause harm.

## Write thoughtfully about disability

Don't use euphemisms or patronizing terms:

- **Avoid** describing people without disabilities as *normal* or *healthy*.
- **Better** : *nondisabled person, sighted person, hearing person, person
  without disabilities, neurotypical person*.

- **Avoid** terms that reflect or project feelings and judgements about a
  person's disability, such as *victim of, suffering from, wheelchair-bound*.

- **Better** : *experiencing, living with, uses a wheelchair*

## Person-first and identity-first language

When writing about accessibility and people with disabilities, be sure to
center the person or community, and avoid terms that remove personhood.

- **Avoid** language like *the disabled*
- **Better** : *people with disabilities*

**Note**: While person-first language is generally preferred (person with a
cognitive impairment, person with low vision), some people prefer identity-first
language; for example, this preference is common in Deaf and neurodivergent
communities (Deaf person, neurodivergent person).

Before writing about a community, take time to educate yourself about how the
community prefers to be identified and described. Some helpful resources include
the following:

- [Write documentation for all](https://developers.google.com/style/inclusive-documentation): General guidelines and examples that illustrate some best practices for writing documentation for everyone.

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**Next unit:** [Add accessible visuals to writing](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/accessibility/self-study/visual-cues)