There is controversy in vocational rehabilitation, independent living programs, and human services in general, over how to refer to persons with disabilities. Today, these are seen as inappropriate labels because they tend to depersonalize someone into a stereotype and imply that the person is passive.
People can have a disability without being the disability.
Limitations can be self fulfilling - thinking they are limited by a disability can keep a person from even trying. In general, we should try to focus on the person and see both disabilities and abilities from their point of view, instead of from a medical definition or stereotype. We believe that, most of the time, none of these terms are perfect for focusing attention on the person and away from stereotypes about disabilities. People with disabilities do not fit into simple categories, as the diversity in our case studies show. End of Content.