Guidelines for Inclusive Language

Emerson's Commitment to Equity, Access, and Social Justice

Equity and Inclusion are core values and commitments of Emerson College’s mission to educate and elevate extraordinary artists, communicators, scholars, and professionals for the betterment of humanity. We believe student success requires active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with equity and inclusion practices, and we foster the skills necessary for meaningful engagement with diverse and complex global societies. As a College, we are working to build a vibrant community culture and experience that fosters creativity, curiosity, belonging, accessibility, and well-being.

This commitment extends to the language we use in our daily verbal communication. Community members should avoid using language that is insensitive to cultural differences or that excludes or offends any group of people (based on their ability/disability, age, ethnicity and race, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, etc.). Ask yourself whether it is appropriate to your communication to share a particular fact about a person (pertaining to social identity, e.g., age, ethnicity). In some circumstances, a person’s or group’s social identity will be irrelevant to what you are communicating, while in other circumstances it will be a very important part of the context. 

Abilities/Disabilities

Ableism is a system, belief, and practice that places value on people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed notions of normalcy, intelligence, and excellence that favor and benefit able bodied people. This contributes to the ways we think about and understand disability. Disability is the result of socially constructed barriers that do not address the needs of individuals with physical or neurological impairments, such as everything being built for people who are standing or who can hear. When someone has all of their access needs met, they are functionally not disabled.

• When referring to people with disabilities in general terms, emphasize the person first and then the disability. Use person with a disability, not disabled person or handicapped person. However, note that some individuals and communities refer to themselves as a “disabled person.” Ask individuals for their preference when possible.
• Use person who uses a wheelchair instead of wheelchair-bound person.
• Avoid words with negative connotations, such as stricken or victim. The use of “someone living with ___” is generally accepted: “someone living with depression” or “someone who has cerebral palsy.”
• People with almost complete vision loss are considered blind or legally blind (20/200 vision). Those who have partial sight may prefer the term low vision, limited vision, or visually impaired. If possible, ask for a person’s preference.
• People who have total hearing loss are deaf. Those with partial hearing loss are hard of hearing. Again, ask for a person’s preference. Some people with partial hearing loss who identify with the Deaf community prefer to be called deaf/Deaf, for example. When referring to Deaf culture, the d is capitalized: Deaf.
• Do not use the word normal to describe people without disabilities.
• Use accessible parking rather than handicapped parking.

Additionally, disability metaphors are present in our culture, speech, and writing, and they are used as pejorative descriptions. For example, “The economy is crippled with debt.” Do not use words related to disability as a metaphor for description. For guidance on usage of specific terms such as Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral palsy, depression, and intellectually disabled, review the National Center on Disability and Journalism’s style guide.

Ethnic and Racial Designations

Some races and ethnicities have multiple terms associated with them. When possible, ask for a person’s preference (e.g., Native American vs. American Indian).

• Native American: A member of any of the first groups of people living in North America. (Other terms: American Indian, First Nation, or Indigenous person)
• Latino/a or Latiné: Refers to someone of Latin American origin.
• Hispanic: Refers to someone of Spanish-speaking origin.
• Spanish: Refers to someone who is from Spain.
• African American: Refers to someone of African origin. Some people who have generations of American ancestors prefer the term Black. To learn more about terms relating to Black culture, visit resources from the National Association of Black Journalists.
• Asian American: Refers to someone of Asian origin. This is a diverse population with ancestral origins in South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. To learn more about terms relating to Asian culture, visit resources from the Asian American Journalists Association.

When referring to race, capitalize Black and lowercase white. Use historically marginalized groups or people of color instead of minorities. People of color are the majority in many large U.S. cities. Do not use a hyphen in ethnic classifications such as African American or Italian American.

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

• Gender is the social construction and meaning a given culture associates with a person’s attitudes, behaviors, feelings, and their sex assigned at birth. Gender identity is a person’s internal sense of having a gender, whether as a woman, man, both, neither, or another gender. Gender identity is not always visible to others and may not correspond with their sex assigned at birth.
• Sex assigned at birth refers to primary sex and characteristics that are used by medical doctors to assign an individual female, male, or intersex at birth. Sex assigned at birth is not synonymous with gender.  
• People who identify as transgender have a gender identity that differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.   
• People who identify as gender-nonconforming, gender-expansive, or non-binary have a gender identity that exists outside of a binary understanding of gender.
• Sexual orientation is the type of sexual, romantic, emotional/spiritual attraction one feels for other people. People may identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, asexual, or use additional language to describe their sexual orientation to encompass attraction to people of the same gender or people of expansive genders. Avoid the use of homosexual and homosexual relationship.

For guidance on terminology related to gender and sex, reference the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists’ Stylebook.

Find links to additional resources such as the GLAAD Media Reference Guide on the Conscious Style Guide website.

Personal Pronouns

Cultural messages tell us to use visual shortcuts to determine a person’s gender. However, it is not possible to tell someone’s gender or their pronouns by looking at them. Respect a person’s chosen personal pronoun by asking and using the pronouns that they use. In addition, people’s pronouns may change. Some transgender and gender-expansive people identify as he, she, or ze but some may identify as both male and female or neither.

Gender-Inclusive Language

Use gender-inclusive language unless you are talking about someone or something that is gender-specific. There are a number of ways to avoid using a gender-specific pronoun (he or she).

1. Recast the sentence and make the subject and object plural.
   Example:
   "Each student must hand in his paper by 2:00 p.m. on Friday."
   Instead, say:
   "Students must hand in their papers by 2:00 p.m. on Friday."
2. Omit the pronoun or use an article (e.g., the, a) instead of a pronoun.
   Example:
   "The cashier should call her manager when a customer asks to use an expired coupon."
   Instead, say:
   "The cashier should call the manager when a customer asks to use an expired coupon."
3. Use the neutral pronoun one.
   Example:
   "A writer in Boston is likely to earn more than she will in Syracuse."
   Instead, say:
   "A writer in Boston is likely to earn more than one in Syracuse."

For more examples of how to rework sentences, reference Section 5.225 in the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition).

• If it’s impossible to recast the sentence, use he or she, not he/she, s/he, or (s)he.
• The singular they/their/them is generally accepted when referencing a person who is gender-nonconforming.
  For example:
  "McMahon donated their magazine collection to the Archives."

Most style guides do not encourage this practice in the context of general use. However, it is becoming more widely accepted. When possible, recast the sentence to avoid a singular they/their/them (as mentioned above).

Gender-Inclusive Titles or Terms

Use:

• Anchor not anchorman
• Artificial not manmade
• Best person not best boy
• Business executive not businessman
• Camera operator not cameraman
• Chair not chairman
• Guard or staff not man (v.)
• Humanity not mankind
• Layperson not layman
• Ombuds not ombudsman
• Police officer not policeman
• Spokesperson not spokesman
• Workforce not manpower

Power-Based Interpersonal Violence

Power-based interpersonal violence is an umbrella term for interpersonal violence rooted in power and control, including sexual assault and harassment, stalking and threats, abusive relationships and bullying, identity-based harm, child abuse, and human trafficking. This term connotes interconnectedness of these forms of violence, as well as the rooting in power and control over someone else.

In circumstances involving those who have been affected by power-based interpersonal violence, use the phrase “person who has been impacted by power-based interpersonal violence” instead of the term victim, which has a negative connotation. Survivor can be used if an individual prefers this term; however, it can also be considered negative in that it defines a person solely by an experience of harm.

When individuals share their experience of violence, use the terms said, shared, and experience rather than admitted, confessed, and story, which convey disbelief and bias.

When individuals have experienced sexual assault (including rape and child sexual abuse), refer to the behavior as sexual assault instead of sex or any other terms that minimize the behavior and violence or imply that it was a mutual decision. To refer to sexual assault as sex is similar to referring to drowning as swimming.

Use relationship violence, domestic violence, dating violence, intimate partner violence, or abusive relationship rather than dispute, quarrel, and love triangle, which minimize the violence.

Use the term reported instead of accused, claimed, and alleged, which convey bias and disbelief.

Use the active voice (e.g., he raped him, he abused her, they reported that he assaulted them) rather than the passive voice (e.g., he was raped, she was abused, they were assaulted), which removes the accountability of the person who committed the behavior and blames the person harmed. If reporting on a case in a current campus or legal process, utilize what was reported, such as “they reported that he assaulted them.”

When referring to an individual who has been reported for power-based interpersonal violence, use the term respondent during a campus process and defendant during a legal process.

End any article, interview, or report with a referral to local resources for those following the story to connect with support. At Emerson College, refer to the Healing and Advocacy Center at emerson.edu/healing. Beyond Emerson, refer to resources including:

• National Domestic Violence Helpline at 1-888-799-7233
• National Sexual Assault Helpline at 1-800-656-4673
• LGBTQIA+ Resources
• International Student Affairs Resources

Immigrants and Immigration  

An (im)migrant is a person who moves to a country or crosses a border to live permanently.   

Undocumented refers to a person who does not have the paperwork preferred/required by the government of the country in which they live or wish to enter. Being undocumented presents many challenges and barriers in everyday life that documented people do not have to worry about.   

Many people are racially profiled as undocumented or immigrants generally based on their race or the language they speak. Do not use the terms illegal or alien to refer to people, as human beings cannot be illegal, and these terms were coined specifically to dehumanize and otherize people.  

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a US federal program that offers a temporary legal status to certain immigrants in the United States who cannot return to their country of origin due to ongoing armed conflict, natural disaster, or other extraordinary reasons. Many people who currently have TPS status have lived in the United States for more than 20 years.   

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is one type of US federal administrative relief from deportation through de-prioritization. The purpose of DACA is to protect eligible undocumented young people from deportation who were brought to the US as minors. DACA gives eligible individuals who successfully complete the long and costly application process: (1) de-prioritization from deportation; (2) work authorization; and (3) the ability to apply for a social security number. Recipients must apply and pay for renewal every two years. DACA recipients are often referred to as being DACA-mented. Despite a US Supreme Court ruling in June 2020 reinstating DACA, the USCIS has received guidance from the federal administration to reject any new DACA applications and to shorten the renewal period from two years to one year.