Rationale People-first language

the sapir–whorf hypothesis basis ideologically motivated linguistic prescriptivism. sapir–whorf hypothesis states language use shapes perceptions of world , forms ideological preconceptions.

in case of people-first language, preconceptions judged negative allegedly arise placing name of condition before term person or people , such white person or jewish people . proponents of people-first language argue places undue focus on condition distracts humanity of members of community of people condition.

in stop saying epileptic , publication in 2008 experiment on people s perception of people disabilities, scientists paula t. fernandes, nelson f. de barros, , li m. li gathered scientific evidence prove why people-first language, or word order, matters. study, scientists used teenagers summer camp conduct experiment. 1 group asked questions using term people epilepsy , other group asked using term epileptics . asked teenagers questions such think people epilepsy/epileptics have more difficulties @ school? , have prejudice toward people epilepsy/epileptics? studied showed teenagers had higher stigma perception on stigma scale of epilepsy (sse) when came epileptics , opposed people epilepsy .