GUIDANCE ON TRANSFORMATIONAL LANGUAGE
"Words have power. They have the power to teach, the power to wound, the power to shape the way people think, feel, and act toward others." (Otto Wahl)
Transformation in services and supports for adults, and children and youth with mental health problems, requires a complementary transformation in the language we use to describe the people we serve. Quite literally, we should seek to employ "people first" language, prefacing our descriptions of the people we serve as people first, such as, people with mental health problems or challenges rather than mentally ill people. None of us should be defined by our problems or diagnoses, or by a single aspect of who we are; we are people first and foremost.
The following list contains examples of transformational language.
TRANSFORMATIONAL LANGUAGE |
OUTDATED LANGUAGE |
Tom has a mental health problem
or challenge. |
Tom is mentally ill/emotionally
disturbed/insane/crazy. |
Dick has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
He experiences mood swings. |
Dick is (a) bipolar. |
Jess experiences symptoms of psychosis.
He hears voices.
|
Jess is (a) psychotic. |
Susie is a person who receives help/
treatment
for mental health problems. She is a consumer/
recipient of mental health services
|
Susie is a patient. |
Harry is a person with co-occurring mental health Harry is mentally ill
and substance use/abuse problems.
|
Harry is mentally ill chemically abusing (MICA).
|
Jane is a person with a disability.
|
Jane is disabled/handicapped.
|
Bonnie is a child without disabilities.
|
Bonnie is normal/healthy.
|
Rebecca has a brain injury.
|
Rebecca is brain injured/damaged. |
Ralph has asked for accessible parking/hotel room
|
Ralph has asked for handicapped parking/hotel room.
|