Words that no one asked for but that people mistakenly believe are somehow less offensive, better or politically correct

• diffability, diffabled
• differently abled
  
  
• hearing-impaired
  
  
• mentally or physically challenged (or “vertically challenged,” usually used as a joke)
  
  
• people who have something to teach us
• people who suffer with difficulties most of us could never imagine (Speak for yourself, and, abled attempts to imagine disabled lives often do more harm than good.)
• people with challenges, people with difficulties, people with different needs
• people with special abilities (We are not all Professor X.)
  
  
• special, our special kids, special people, special needs (as noun), special angels, god’s special angels, angels
• superheroes (referring to disabled people)
• superheroes (referring to caregivers)
• superheroes (referring to medical professionals)
  
  
• those with hearing difficulties 
• those with disabilities*
  
  
• [specific disability] warrior
• [specific disability] warrior mama/papa (Maybe those people did ask for this term, but that doesn’t mean we should give it to them.)
• warrior, fighter, so brave

*Note: “Those with disabilities” is not technically incorrect, but it's used a lot by newsrooms, and I don’t know why. It seems like it's an attempt to use person-first language but without the “person” part, which seems to me to be the whole point of person-first language (see Glossary).

 
(Does anyone know where this comes from and why? Please email me at sarah.trick@gmail.com.)