Disabled is the clear preference in contemporary American English in referring to people having either physical or mental impairments, with the impairments themselves preferably termed disabilities.Handicapped—a somewhat euphemistic term derived from the world of sports gambling—is still in wide use but is sometimes taken to be offensive, while more recent coinages such as differently abled or handicapable are generally perceived as condescending euphemisms and have gained little currency.
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The often-repeated recommendation to put the person before the disability would favor persons with disabilities over disabled persons and person with paraplegia over paraplegic. Such expressions are said to focus on the individual rather than on the particular functional limitation, and they are preferred by many people who themselves have disabilities. Respect for the wishes of this group calls for observing this rule, but the “person-first” construction has not found wide acceptance with the general public, perhaps because it tends to sound unnatural or possibly because in English the last word in a phrase usually has the greatest weight, thus undercutting the intended purpose.
