We Choose Language is powerful. The words we choose to talk about people who have disabilities can spread awareness and enlightenment - or can perpetuate prejudice and misconception. Please use people-first language to emphasize the uniqueness and worth of each person rather than the differences among people.
Some suggestions Mention the person first and the disability second.
Defective is always hurtful when used to describe people. Childlike, boy, and girl are misleading when used to describe adults with cognitive label or mental retardation. Unfortunate, pitiful, and burden are inappropriate emotional terms that perpetuate inaccurate stereotypes of people with disabilities. Although a disability may be caused by a disease like polio or rubella, the disability is not the disease. The disability cannot be contagious as is too often mistakenly thought.