GOVERNMENT CODE

TITLE 3. LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

SUBTITLE Z. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

CHAPTER 392.  PERSON FIRST RESPECTFUL LANGUAGE INITIATIVE

Sec. 392.001.  FINDINGS AND INTENT.  The legislature finds that language used in reference to persons with disabilities shapes and reflects society's attitudes toward persons with disabilities.  Certain terms and phrases are demeaning and create an invisible barrier to inclusion as equal community members.  It is the intent of the legislature to establish preferred terms and phrases for new and revised laws by requiring the use of language that places the person before the disability.
Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 272 (H.B. 1481), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2011.

Sec. 392.002.  USE OF PERSON FIRST RESPECTFUL LANGUAGE REQUIRED.  (a)  The legislature and the Texas Legislative Council are directed to avoid using the following terms and phrases in any new statute or resolution and to change those terms and phrases used in any existing statute or resolution as sections including those terms and phrases are otherwise amended by law:
(1)  disabled;
(2)  developmentally disabled;
(3)  mentally disabled;
(4)  mentally ill;
(5)  mentally retarded;
(6)  handicapped;
(7)  cripple; and
(8)  crippled.
(b)  In enacting or revising statutes or resolutions, the legislature and the Texas Legislative Council are directed to replace, as appropriate, terms and phrases listed by Subsection (a) with the following preferred phrases or appropriate variations of those phrases:
(1)  "persons with disabilities";
(2)  "persons with developmental disabilities";
(3)  "persons with mental illness"; and
(4)  "persons with intellectual disabilities."
(b-1)  In addition to the terms and phrases listed in Subsection (a), the legislature and the Texas Legislative Council are directed to avoid using in any new statute or resolution "hearing impaired," "auditory impairment," and "speech impaired" in reference to a deaf or hard of hearing person, and the legislature and the Texas Legislative Council are directed to replace, when enacting or revising a statute or resolution, those phrases with "deaf" or "hard of hearing," as appropriate.
(c)  A statute or resolution is not invalid solely because it does not employ this section's preferred phrases.
Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 272 (H.B. 1481), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2011.
Amended by: 
Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 233 (S.B. 281), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2019.