Rival IQ aims to be inclusive of all people and abilities, and one of the ways we strive to do that is through the intentional use of language. We created this guide to provide explanations and substitutions for words that are ableist and/or exclusionary.
We’ve sourced our list of words to avoid via research and from our own experiences, and plan to evolve this list over time as we continue to learn more. We’ve crawled our website and blog to remove these words wherever possible, and work to use inclusive and accurate language in our everyday conversations as well with each other, with our customers, and on our social media channels.
You can read more about how we conducted our inclusivity audit here at Rival IQ. If you’re interested in conducting an audit of your own, we list several resources at the bottom of this page that can help you get started.
Ableist/exclusive language to avoid
Bananas
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Use it like this: Refers to fruit.
Consider instead: Wild, improbable, unexpected, confusing
Blind
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to not paying attention or being lazy.
Use it like this: Refers to blind, low-sight, or sight-limited people.
Common uses: “Turn a blind eye,” “Blinded by ___”
Consider instead: Willfully ignorant, deliberately ignored, feigned ignorance, thoughtless
Bonkers
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with mental or psychiatric disabilities.
Consider instead: Wild, improbable, unexpected, confusing
Brown bag lunch
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to a gathering where every attendee brings their own lunch.
Consider instead: Meeting, lunch, lunch-and-learn, sack lunch
Further reading
Crazy
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Often used as an exclamation.
Consider instead: Wild, improbable, unexpected, confusing, unbelievable, illogical
Crippled
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to people with physical or mobility disabilities.
Common uses: “Crippled by debt”
Consider instead: Frozen by, halted by
Deaf
Don’t use it to mean this: As a metaphor for not listening.
Use it like this: Refers to d/Deaf or hard of hearing people.
Common uses: “Falls on deaf ears,” “Deaf to their concerns”
Consider instead: Willfully ignorant, deliberately ignored, feigned ignorance, insensitive, thoughtless
Dumb
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to d/Deaf or hard of hearing people, people with speech-related disabilities, or people with linguistic or communication disorders or disabilities.
Consider instead: Dense, ignorant, lacks understanding, silly, goofy
Gals
Don’t use it to mean this: Often used to refer to a group of adult women.
Use it like this: Refers to adolescent females.
Consider instead: Women
Girls
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to a group of adult women.
Use it like this: Refers to adolescent females.
Consider instead: Women
Grandfathered
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to exempting someone from a new rule or requirement.
Consider instead: Legacied, inherited
Further reading
Guys
Don’t use it to mean this: Often used to refer to a multi-gendered group of people.
Use it like this: Refers to a group of men.
Consider instead: Folks, team, y’all, both, you two, you all
Gyp or Gypped/Jipped
Don’t use it to mean this: Cheated or get conned
Consider instead: Cheated
Further reading
He (as default when subject gender is unknown)
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to an individual when gender is unknown.
Use it like this: In cases where male gender is empirically known.
Common uses: “He said,” “Postman,” “Fireman”
Consider instead: They, letter carrier, firefighter
Further reading
Insane
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Often used as an exclamation.
Consider instead: Wild, improbable, unexpected, confusing
Ladies
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to a group of adult women.
Consider instead: Women
Lame
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with physical or mobility disabilities. Often used as an exclamation.
Common uses: “That’s so lame,” “Don’t be lame”
Consider instead: Uncool, boring, monotonous, uninteresting, lackluster
Long Time No See
Don’t use it to mean this: a greeting
Consider instead: “It’s been a while,” “Nice to see you”
Further reading
Mad
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Often used as an exclamation.
Use it like this: Refers to a feeling (“I’m so mad”)
Consider instead: Wild, improbable, unexpected, confusing
Manhandle
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to roughly holding someone with force.
Consider instead (to remove gender): Force, push, handle
Manpower
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to effort or people required to accomplish something.
Consider instead (to remove gender): Effort, people power, crew, team
Native
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to a non-indigenous person’s place of birth.
Use it to mean this: Refers to an individual indigenous to a place.
Acceptable uses: native technology, native channels/apps, native plants, Native Americans
Consider instead: From [this place], Was born in [this place]
No Can Do
Don’t use it to mean this: I can’t, I don’t want to
Consider instead: I can’t, I don’t want to
Further reading
Nuts
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to someone with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Often used as an exclamation.
Use it to mean this: Refers to food.
Consider instead: Wild, improbable, unexpected, confusing
Peanut gallery
Don’t use it to mean: hecklers, cheap seats, opinions from a group
Consider instead: hecklers, opinions from a group
Pow-wow
Don’t use it to mean this: Often used to refer to a meeting of non-Indigenous people.
Use it to mean this: Refers to a social gathering of Native Americans.
Consider instead: Meeting, gathering, chat, talk, conversation
Further reading
Sanity check
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to people with mental or psychiatric disabilities. Often used as a metaphor for double-checking.
Consider instead: Audit, a second look, sense check
Further reading
Slave/slaved
Don’t use it to mean this: Refers to a metaphor for hard work.
Use it to mean this: Refers to a person who is the property of another person.
Common uses: “Slaved over a hot stove,” “I’m a slave to social media”
Consider instead: Toil, slog, work hard, grind
Sold Down the River
Don’t use it to mean this: Betrayed, lied to
Consider instead: betrayed, lied to, screwed over
Further reading
Shuck and Jive
Don’t use it to mean: Lying, misleading, joking
Thug
Don’t use it to mean this: Violent criminal
Consider instead: Violent criminal
Further reading
Uppity
Don’t use it to mean this: arrogant, self-important
Consider instead: arrogant, self-important, conceited
Welfare Queen
Don’t use it to mean: Someone in need of financial or programmatic assistance
Inclusive language guide sources and more info
Autistic Hoya: https://www.autistichoya.com/p/ableist-words-and-terms-to-avoid.html
Conscious Style Guide: http://consciousstyleguide.com/ability-disability/
Helpscout: https://www.helpscout.com/blog/inclusive-language/
Buffer: https://open.buffer.com/inclusive-language-tech/
This guide was originally posted on December 4, 2019 and has since been updated.
