Disability Isn’t A Dirty Word Twitter Chat: 7pm, Sunday 7th March

We are very excited to be having a twitter chat - twitter chats are how a lot of us started organising together.  We see this as an accessible and open way to organise around issues which impact the disability community.  As disabled people we are so often excluded from our political discourses and systems. Non-disabled people claim to speak for us. We will make our voices heard. 


“Over the last number of months, we have heard nothing but euphemisms for disability. Our needs are somehow "additional", "special" or "abnormal" - and all of our conditions are pre-existing. The way we are talked about is so very different to the way we talk about ourselves.” 


The Disability isn't a Dirty Word Campaign aims to encourage the general public to question the language they use around disability. 

Language can often be a difficult thing to grapple with. The best way of learning is to listen to us, join us and use the word we use to describe ourselves. That word is disabled. The discomfort that persists around the word stems from some very outdated ideas about disability. 


While we are a group for disabled women, and non-binary people, this is a twitter chat open to everyone. We are also particularly keen that more marginalised voices within the disability community are heard - in particular disabled Travellers, disabled migrants, disabled people from rural and isolated areas, those in institutions, and disabled members of the LGBTQ community. 


As always, we use the UN CRPD concept of disability. If you think you might belong - you probably do! We are about our collective liberation not our individual impairments. 

The questions that we have for the chat are below and at the bottom of the post, are the Twitter Chat Guidelines!

Questions for Twitter Chat:

  1. Why do you use the term disability?

  2. What euphemism for disability annoys you the most and why?

  3. What do you wish allies knew about language? 

  4. What do you think stops people from being comfortable talking about disability?

  5. What do you think stops people from identifying as having a disability/ as disabled?

  6. How can we best encourage people to follow our lead on the language about us?  

Twitter Chat Guidelines:

  1. Use the hashtag #DisabilityIsntADirtyWord. 

  2. Retweet or state which question you are answering. (e.g. Q1: …) 

  3. Search #DisabilityIsntADirtyWord to see what others are saying. 

  4. Reply directly for targeted conversations with one or two people. 

  5. Describe images or Gifs

  6. Capitalize the hashtag for access #DisabilityIsntADirtyWord 

  7. Include a “.”  or a space  in front of an @ if you want your tweet to show up in all feeds. 

  8. It’s OK to dip in and out of a Twitter chat. Drop by for the time you have and don’t feel guilty if you can’t stay for the whole thing.

  9. Be polite and positive! 🙂

  10. Don’t be afraid to contribute and jump in! It can be intimidating, but trust me, the moderators and participants will be glad to hear from you!

  11. When answering a specific question or comment from another participant, use Twitter handles to identify who you’re speaking to in order to avoid confusion.

  12. Always include the chat hashtag in your responses.

  13. We will be live on the chat from 7-8pm, but the conversation can continue afterwards!

  14. Stay involved after, if you want!



DisabilityIsntADirtyWordMaria Ni FhlathartaIWD2021, ChooseToChallenge, DisabilityIsntADirtyWordComment