When I push a particular button on my laptop, a message pops up on the monitor: “Wireless LAN disabled.” When that happens, the wireless connection doesn’t work. So, does the word “disabled” mean “does not work”? If so, does the same meaning apply to a “disabled” person?

By contrast, if we say that a person “has a disability,” the meaning is different. This wording suggests that one of this person’s abilities is not functioning. Many people who have a disability find that their blindness or their inability to walk—or whatever it is—is inconvenient, but nothing more. It certainly does not “disable” them. Thinking like this is not just political correctness. Words have meanings.

Disabled person. Person with a disability. There is a difference.

—editor