The Massachusetts legislature has passed a bill aimed at removing outdated language used to describe individuals with disabilities from the state's General Laws. The bill proposes to replace terms such as "handicapped," "disabled," and the "r-word" with more appropriate language, including "persons with a disability" and "person with an intellectual or developmental disability."
Introduced by Democratic state Senator Pat Jehlen and supported by 17 co-sponsors, the bill is now awaiting approval from Governor Maura Healey. The legislation updates 346 sections of Massachusetts law.
Senator Jehlen stated, "Language is constantly changing... When people tell us they feel insulted and offended by the use of outdated words, we worked to change the legal language." The bill also removes terms like "crippled" and "deformed," and revises "hearing-impaired" to "deaf or hard of hearing."
Senate President Karen Spilka emphasized the importance of modernizing the language in laws to reflect contemporary values, stating, "When dusty and dangerous relics of a bygone era darken our laws, it creates the potential for real harm to residents today."
The legislation received broad support, passing with unanimous recorded votes in both chambers of the legislature. This follows a previous law that renamed the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission to MassAbility, part of a broader initiative to modernize disability services.