“Able-bodied” is an offensive term to describe non-disabled people, a charity has said.
A list of appropriate and inappropriate terms for those with disabilities has been released by Leonard Cheshire, adding that the language used is “vital”.
The charity, set up in 1948 by RAF group captain Leonard Cheshire, said that people should say “non-disabled” rather than “able-bodied.”
The term able-bodied is seen by some people in the disabled community as implying that all people with disabilities do not have able bodies .
“Blind” should also be avoided, according to their list, with people urged to use “person with visual impairment” instead.
The terms able-bodied , epileptic and even blind are offensive and should be avoided, according to a health and welfare charity.
Leonard Cheshire, which runs development programmes across the world, compiled a vital list of appropriate terms for those with disabilities.
The list stipulates words such as able-bodied should be replaced with the term non-disabled because the term suggests every person with a disability does not have an able body , The Telegraph reports.
Charity Leonard Cheshire has devised a list of appropriate and inappropriate words and phrases for those with disabilities
Also on the list was the term blind , which the charity suggests should be replaced with people with visual impairment , as well as epileptic , invalid and handicapped .