Thomas Breen photo
Board of Alders Majority Leader Furlow introducing legislation Monday.
The term “handicapped person” will be changed to “person with a disability” in city law, thanks to a comprehensive legal-language update approved by the Board of Alders.
Local legislators unanimously signed off on that set of changes Monday night during the latest regular bimonthly full Board of Alders meeting, which took place in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
The alders took a final vote in support of an ordinance amendment to “modernize city ordinances to reflect language that is respectful to people with disabilities,” according to the title of the law change itself.
The law change was first proposed by city Director of Disability Services Gretchen Knauff earlier this summer with the goal of recognizing “the power of language” by scrapping outdated references to people with disabilities in favor of so-called “person-first language.”
In that vein, the now-approved legislation will change legal references throughout the city’s Code of Ordinances from “handicapped person” to “person with a disability.” It will also change references from the outdated term “mental retardation” to the currently accepted term of “intellectual disability.”
It will not have any fiscal impact, per Knauff’s presentation to the Legislation Committee in August, and it will not change any “handicapped parking” signs.
Click here to read a previous Independent article about these change, and here and here to read the now-approved law change in full.