12/21/2025
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Malaysia just did something powerful: it published the official Disability-Inclusive Language Guidelines, a national reference for how disability is talked about across media, comms, and public life.
Words shape policy, headlines, classrooms, jokes, hiring decisions, and who gets treated with dignity. Too often, terms get imposed on disabled people instead of defined by them. This guideline pushes back by treating disabled communities as the authority on their own language.
We’re also celebrating a big moment of leadership close to home: DJP Board of Advisor Beatrice Leong (): Malaysia-based documentary filmmaker, gender–disability activist, late-diagnosed autistic woman, and founder of AIDA (Autism Inclusiveness Direct Action Group) was part of the community working group behind these guidelines, alongside Mediha Mahmood and team from Content Forum Malaysia, Ng Lai Thin (The OKU Rights Matter), and the SIUMAN Collective that helped shape this standard.
This guide is practical, built for real-world use (newsrooms, advertising, corporate comms, public engagements, social media). It holds nuance and makes the simplest point that many systems still forget: ask people how they want to be identified, then respect that.
If your country doesn’t have a community-led disability language standard yet, Malaysia just offered a roadmap.
Tag a journalist, editor, policymaker, comms lead, educator, or creator who shapes public language. Does your country have a guideline like this? If yes, tell us more about it. If not, what should it include?
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