Part 1 Building Communication Skills 1 Learn the proper terminology . Make sure you use the right terms when discussing people with disabilities. Certain terms that were once considered the norm are now outdated and even offensive. The first step to helping people with disabilities is educating yourself about the right words. When speaking about someone with a disability, it's often polite to place their personhood before their specific condition. For example, do not say "mentally ill person" or "the mentally ill." Instead say, "person who has a mental illness." Do not say "wheelchair-bound." Identify them by another means (like you would anyone else), and if you're talking specifically about the use of a wheelchair, say, "person in the wheelchair" or "person who uses the wheelchair." Keep in mind there are a few noteworthy exceptions to this; many people in the Deaf, Blind, and Autistic communiti...