Meanings
- uncountableLanguage that refers to people with disabilities by saying people first, for example "people with disabilities", instead of adjectives ("disabled people") and copulas ("he is disabled") that would give primacy to the disability.
People with disabilities and professionals in the human services field are promoting the use of "people first" language, which refers to the person first and the disability second: "Americans with disabilities," for example, rather than "disabled Americans".
1988. Letter to the editor, BusinessWeek. Issue 3059
Origin
The term first appears in 1988, used by advocacy groups in the United States.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
people-first language. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/people-first%20language
“people-first language.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/people-first%20language. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “people-first language,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/people-first%20language.
Source: people-first language on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.