Physical ability or health. When writing about a person with a serious illness or physical disability, ask yourself whether mentioning the disability is relevant to your discussion and whether the words you use carry negative connotations. You might choose, for example, to say someone uses a wheelchair rather than to say he or she is confined to one. Similarly, you might note a subtle but meaningful difference in calling someone a person with AIDS rather than an AIDS victim. Mentioning the person first and the disability second, such as referring to a child with diabetes rather than a diabetic child or a diabetic, is always a good idea.