The American Medical Association has decided you can no longer use common terms such as “morbid obesity” or adjectives like “vulnerable,” “marginalized” or “high-risk.”
The title of the AMA’s new guidance is “Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concept.” Download the PDF here.
The AMA has issued a long list of “dehumanizing language” that you should avoid and use “person-first” language instead.
Rather than describing people as Covid-19 “cases,” you should use “persons with Covid-19.”
WENN/Avalon
Women like pop singer Lizzo are still considered obese but they are no longer “morbid.”
READ ALSO: Study: Obese People are more at risk of dying from Covid-19
Morbid obesity is an actual medical condition that means being more than 100 pounds over the ideal body weight. It also means a body mass index (BMI) over 35. MO negatively affects a woman’s health.
However, the AMA says “morbid obesity” is offensive to women who are obese. The new terminology is “People with obesity.”
“The Homeless” should be referred to as “People who are experiencing homelessness.”
John Parra/Getty Images
Instead of calling prisoners “Inmates,” The AMA suggests you use “Person with mobility disability.”
Check out more banned words and their appropriate substitutes below:
- Disabled Person – People who are experiencing (condition)
- Blind – People with vision impairments
- Minorities or minority – (People from) racial and ethnic groups
- black – Lower case black denotes a color, not a person
- Caucasian – white
- Illegal immigrant – Undocumented immigrant
- Slave – enslaved person
- Low-income people – Underpaid people
