An article from Curator: The Museum Journal caught our eye this week: Guidance for Depicting Animals With Disabilities offers thoughtful, research-based recommendations for how museums can communicate about disability with care and accuracy. As the authors note:
Research suggests that 70% of people feel uncomfortable around people with disabilities, and that this discomfort comes from fear, lack of exposure, and ignorance. Identifying the best ways to present and discuss people with disabilities is increasingly important, with at least one in four Americans reporting having a disability.
Even for institutions unlikely to depict animals directly, this guidance offers a useful framework for developing inclusive storytelling and interpretation across programs and exhibits. And it’s always good to review current ADA recommendations, also reflected in the table below.
| Step | Application to Humans | Application to Nonhuman Animals |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Disclosure and mentioning a disability | Don’t: assume a person wants to disclose their disability. Don’t: describe overcoming their disability as inspiration. |
Clearly state why an animal’s disability is mentioned. Avoid disclosure for pity, inspiration, or fundraising beyond treatment needs. Do disclose when it supports inclusion or understanding. |
| 2. Emphasize abilities | Don’t use: wheelchair-bound; non-verbal, mute, or can’t talk; can’t see. Use: person who uses a wheelchair; communication device; or is blind, low vision, or navigates without sight. |
Don’t use: mobility-challenged or can’t see. Use: animal who uses a ramp or other mobility device; is blind, low vision, or navigates her environment without sight. |
| 3. Person first (though some people prefer identity/disability first language) | Don’t use: disabled person; the disabled; dwarf, midget. Use: person with a disability; a person of short stature or little person. |
Don’t use: disabled animal. Use: animal with a disability. For both humans and non-humans, dwarfism is used as a term to describe those with reduced body sizes due to evolution and environment. It is not offensive when scientifically accurate and used with respect. |
| 4. Ask people about preferred language | Don’t: assume people’s preferences. Use: the language people prefer. Some people see their disability as an essential part of who they are and may prefer identity-first language like autistic person or (D)deaf person. |
Use animal-first language when describing disabilities — this mirrors best practices and encourages appropriate language use about people with disabilities. |
| 5. Neutral language | Don’t: portray the person as passive, victim, or defective or use terms like afflicted, damaged, defect, or suffer; stroke victim; person suffered a spinal cord injury; birth defect; brain damaged; or afflicted with epilepsy. Use: person who had a stroke; acquired a spinal cord injury; has a congenital disability, brain injury, or with epilepsy. |
Don’t: use afflicted, damaged, defect, or suffers. Use: animal who had a stroke, has a congenital disability, or has dermatitis. |
| 6. Emphasize accessibility language | Don’t use: handicapped parking or disabled restroom. Use: accessible or ADA parking or restroom. |
Don’t use: disabled or handicapped habitat or entrance. Use: habitat that meets their needs or accessible entrance. |
| 7. No condescending euphemisms | Don’t use: terms like challenged, handi-capable, special, and even differently-abled as they are considered condescending euphemisms. | While animals aren’t affected by these terms, avoid them in interpretation since their use influences perceptions of people with disabilities. |
| 8. No offensive language | Don’t use: freak, retard, lame, crippled, or crazy. | Avoid these entirely in public or interpretive communication. |
| 9. Describing people without disabilities | In discussions that include people with and without disabilities, do not use words that imply negative stereotypes of those with disabilities. Don’t use: normal, healthy, able-bodied, whole. Use: people without disabilities when contextually relevant. |
Use: animals without disabilities when relevant. Avoid words that suggest deficiency or abnormality. |
| 10. Disability is not an illness or tragic | People with disabilities can be healthy, although they may have a chronic condition. This is not tragic. Don’t: refer to people with disabilities as patients, ill, sick, or unhealthy simply because they have a disability. Don’t: use stories that perpetuate pity or focus on incurable diseases, congenital issues, or severe injuries. Do: create stories that highlight ability and accessibility. |
Animals with disabilities can also be healthy. Avoid portraying them as sick or tragic. Focus on care, enrichment, and accessibility rather than pity. |
| 11. Don’t perpetuate negative stereotypes about psychiatric and cognitive disabilities | There is much stigma around psychiatric disabilities. Only use “disorder” when referring to a medical diagnosis. Don’t use: is bipolar, unsuccessful suicide, committed suicide, schizophrenic, is mentally ill, stressed, depressed, or anxious. Use: has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, attempted suicide, died by suicide, person with schizophrenia, has a mental health condition, is neurodivergent, or is/has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is exhibiting a stress (anxiety, depression) response. Broadly referencing someone as neurodivergent is preferred over referencing neurodivergence as a disorder. |
Research suggests animals may experience anxiety, depression, or PTSD. No evidence supports autism or ADHD in animals. Avoid anthropomorphic phrases like “the lion is stressed.” Instead, use: “the lion is exhibiting a stress response after being transferred.” |
| 12. No inspiration or charity heroics | Simply living with a disability does not make a person exceptional, heroic, or inspirational. Don’t: discuss a person with a disability as being heroic or an inspiration simply for living their life. |
Don’t frame animals with disabilities as heroic or inspirational simply for surviving. |
| 13. Avoid categorizing the condition’s “severity” | The addition of some adjectives before discussing a disability can create a hierarchy or imply judgment. Don’t use: terms like high functioning, low functioning, severe, and significant; person is high functioning autistic. Use: person is autistic. |
Don’t use: the lion has severe anxiety. Use: the lion has an anxiety condition. |
| 14. Speciesism and ableism are linked | — | Avoid framing euthanasia or care decisions around disability or age. Be transparent — for example, “James the turtle was humanely euthanized when his pain and discomfort could not be adequately managed, and he was no longer able to eat or drink.” |
| 15. Anthropomorphizing disability for animals with disabilities | — | Don’t project human assumptions about ability, acceptance, or quality of life. Use human analogies only when they clarify understanding — for example, “Stubby has a skin condition, which would be similar to eczema in people.” |
| 16. Promote accessibility over accommodation | — | Accessibility removes barriers proactively so all can participate. Accommodations are reactive adjustments made when accessibility is lacking. Prioritize accessibility as the primary goal. |
Adapted from concepts published in Guidance for Depicting Animals With Disabilities. Note: Steps 13 – 16 added as the authors’ additional suggestions beyond ADA guidelines. Shared for educational and professional reference.
We highly recommend visiting the above link to read the article in full, as it explores how the ways we talk about animals with disabilities can influence public understanding of disability itself. The authors demonstrate how intentional language (grounded in ADA principles) can help museums and zoos encourage empathy, inclusion, and accurate representation across species.
