04/29/2026
"Elevating Our Vision and Expanding Our Horizons" is the theme for the United Cerebral Palsy National conference this year.
Words create worlds. Language shapes reality. And Team RELAY is leading the charge, transforming workplaces and communities through the transition from the Deficit, Medical, Identity, and Social language models, to the Justice language model.
Zach Anner, an American comedian, actor, and writer with cerebral palsy (Oprah's Your OWN Show, Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star, Rollin' with Zach 2011, writer for the 2016-2019 sitcom Speechless), gave a powerful opening keynote. My favorite quote from his presentation: "You never know what good things you're doing that will lead to change, so keep doing the good things."
Later, Dr. Lakshmi Balasubramanian, Ph.D. and I gave a presentation on The Evolution of Disability Language. Afterwards, Nadja Sailesman moderated a panel which included Dr. Lakshmi, myself, UCP National Board Treasurer Ken Bluhm, and Dr. Patti DesJardine, Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary.
I attend a lot of disability conferences, and I have not heard the topic of disability language addressed as directly, objectively, thoroughly, and educationally as we did today, and with a diverse panel of disabled self-advocates and people who have conducted academic research on this topic. It can be controversial if it isn't presented in a historical, contextual, and evidence-based manner. We received positive responses from many attendees who appreciated the way we delivered this information.
Our call to action was to ask leaders of disability service organizations to review the language and the words they use when they talk about the clients/participants (disabled people) whom they support, with a fresh perspective.
