A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Encouraging the Legislature to continue using person-first language that acknowledges the person before any disability.

WHEREAS, the Legislature is comprised of leaders from across the state who are looked upon as role models for the citizens of South Dakota; and

WHEREAS, person-first language, which references the person first, rather than the disability, is an integral aspect of respecting a person who has a disability, so as not to diminish that person's humanity or natural condition of having a disability; and

WHEREAS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has evolved over the last decade to prioritize person-centered planning and focus on the person, together with the support that the person needs to achieve the person's life goals; and

WHEREAS, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities set a standard for the use of person-first language, and the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy has emphasized the careful use of words when referring to a person with a disability; and

WHEREAS, terminology that references a person with a disability should not imply that the person is disabled as a whole, equate the person with a condition, or have negative overtones of a derogatory or demeaning effect; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of South Dakota finds it important and appropriate that new and revised laws and rules should use terminology that puts the person before the disability;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Senate of the One Hundredth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature supports the continued use of language that puts a person first when referring to persons with disabilities in South Dakota statutes and rules.