Alliance for Healthier Communities Communications Guide | 1
Inclusive and Empathetic Language Use Guidelines
Language is a powerful tool. The way we talk about people and communities facing barriers has
a tremendous impact on the way they are viewed in our society. Words can either empower
people and affirm the value of diversity and difference, or demean them and perpetuate the
stigma they already face.
Referring to people as the vulnerable, the poor, the homeless, drug addicts, mentally ill,
disabled, etc., is common in policy documents, media and our own communications. Unlike
derogatory terms or slurs, these words are not meant to be intentionally harmful. More often
than not they are used out of convenience or convention. That doesn’t mean this kind of
language doesn’t have harmful effects.
Reducing human beings to their medical or social conditions contributes to the othering of
people and whole communities. The resulting stigma leads to discrimination and reluctance on
the part of people facing barriers to access supports and services, which in turn exacerbates
existing health inequities. Negative public perception of certain groups also results in lack of
support for the policy changes required to create a more equitable and just society.
The first step to advancing our policy agenda, transforming the health system, and ensuring the
best possible health and wellbeing for everyone in Ontario is to shift the conversation and
create a new narrative. This narrative should be rooted in respect and appreciation for our
differences. It should reaffirm the intrinsic value of every person in our society regardless of
their social or medical circumstances. That’s why words matter. Proper language use is not
about political correctness. It is a matter of health equity and social justice.
The guidelines provided below are in no way complete. We acknowledge that language is
constantly evolving. The words and terms that are acceptable today may be rejected in a few
years. This document is meant to encourage Alliance employees to be more thoughtful writers,
deliberate in their language choices, and to help prepare them to take responsibility for the
words they use.
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Guidelines
- Don’t reduce people to their social or medical conditions: avoid referring to people as the
homeless, the poor, the disabled, the drug user, etc. Homelessness, poverty, disability or drug
use are only one aspect of people’s lives. They are also parents, children, friends, artists,
writers, professionals, workers, and so on. When we use the adjective that describes their
social or medical condition and turn it into a noun to refer to people, we erase the other facets
of their lives and rob them of their humanity.
- Use people-first language. The concept of “person-first language” emerged among disability
advocacy groups in the 1980s. The movement’s objective was to use language in a way that
allowed people with disabilities and/or particular diagnoses to reclaim their agency, autonomy,
and personhood in the face of stigma and dehumanization. The rule is to put the word “person”
first, before the disability or condition, in order to emphasize that those being referred to are
people first, not just diagnoses or disabilities. In addition, when we put an adjective before the
noun, for example a disabled person, it implies that the whole person is disabled, which is
usually not the case. That is why “a person with disabilities” is a preferred term. The concept
person-first language has since grown beyond the disability community and can be used when
referring to many groups facing barriers. So try using “people experiencing homelessness” or
“people living in the streets” instead of “the homeless,” “a person living below the poverty line”
instead of “the poor,” “people who use drugs” instead of “drug users.”
- Our aim should be to shift focus from people to the systems that create inequities. When we
call people vulnerable or at-risk, it implies there is something inherently wrong with them and
because of that, they cannot deal with their life circumstances. We know that it is government
policies that make people vulnerable to poverty, food insecurity, inadequate housing, and at
risk of poor health. So it makes more sense to say “people made vulnerable to poverty”,
“people disadvantaged by the system”, “communities facing barriers” or to talk directly about
policies that put people at risk of poor health.
- Be as specific as possible. Quite often we refer to large, generic groups of people when we
mean much smaller communities. Using specific and clearly defined terms will help get the
message across as well as avoid lumping different groups of people together. Try to specify who
you mean by disabled people: is it people with mobility issues, deaf people, etc. When you talk
about at-risk youth, do you mean youth living in inner suburbs, youth from families living on
low incomes, newcomer youth, etc.?
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- Avoid judgmental language. Do not use language that carries judgmental undertones, i.e.,
normal, clean, dirty, or words that victimize people, i.e., victim, afflicted, restricted, stricken,
suffering, etc. Don’t call someone brave, heroic or a fighter simply for living with disability or
dealing with a disease. Instead, use neutral terms: deal with, live with, manage, or have.
- Avoid war metaphors and combatant language, such as: fighting, combatting, war on the
virus, frontline defense, mobilizing, etc. Military language often leads to portraying people who
are sick as an enemy. Healing and war are inherently in opposition. The use of militaristic
metaphors and violent language undermines the efforts to humanize healthcare.
- Avoid ableist language. Disability metaphors abound in our language, and they usually have a
negative connotation, for instance: economy crippled by debt, blind to the suffering of other
people, crazy to do it, etc. Ableist language perpetuates negative and disempowering views of
disabled people and therefore should not be used. Instead, employ your imagination or refer to
a thesaurus (thesaurus.com) and try to find a more appropriate word for what you are trying to
say.
- Remember the new golden rule: Treat people the way they want to be treated. When in
doubt, don’t be afraid to ask people how they would like to be referred to. And always respect
an individual person’s preference for identifying or describing themselves, even if that is not
what the majority in a community prefers, or if it deviates from this style guide.
Glossary
Avoid
Try instead
Vulnerable populations, at-risk populations,
our most vulnerable, at-risk people
People and communities facing barriers
People disadvantaged by the system
People made vulnerable by inadequate
policies
People put at risk of poor health by
inadequate policies
Poor people, the poor
People experiencing poverty
People living under the poverty line
Homeless people, the homeless
People experiencing homelessness
People without a home
People living on the streets
Low-income people
People living on low incomes
The uninsured
People without medical insurance
Ontarians, Canadians, citizens
People living in Ontario
People living in Canada
Undocumented, illegal, unauthorized,
unlawful, alien
People without legal status
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Avoid
Try instead
Offender, convict, criminal
Person with a criminal record
Convicted person
Mentally ill
People with mental health issues
People with a mental illness
Disabled people
People with physical/mental/intellectual
disabilities
Physically challenged, handicapped
People with a physical disability
Confined to a wheelchair
Uses a wheelchair
Suffer from bipolar disorder
Diagnosed with bipolar disorder
Normal
People without disabilities
Stroke victim
Person who had a stroke
Drug addict, drug user, junkie
Person who uses drugs
Person with substance use disorder
Clean
Person who has stopped using drugs
Dirty
Actively uses drugs
Positive for drug use
Addiction
Drug habit
Substance use disorder
Problematic drug use
Fight, combat, struggle, counter
Deal, address, manage
Frontline staff
Front-facing staff
Trans/transgender (as a noun)
Trans woman, transgender man
Born male, biologically female
Sex assigned at birth
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex change surgery
Gender confirming surgery
