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Disability is a general term for one or more functional limitations in carrying out major life activities. A disability may be physical, mental, or sensory. The language used to describe disabilities and people with disabilities has changed over time, and older words and phrases like cripple, handicapped, or special needs are no longer recommended and often cause offense. In many cases there is no reason to mention someone’s disability at all; however, when you do introduce disability as a part of an individual’s whole self, it is usually preferable to be specific: “a woman with cerebral palsy” rather than generically “a woman with a disability.” Sometimes the important information is a person’s membership in the disability community, in which case the umbrella term disability is appropriate: “employer accommodation for an employee with a disability.” Some people, especially in the disability rights community, prefer to write disability as dis/ability, (dis)ability, or disAbility in an effort to emphasize ability and minimize ableism. In the same spirit, some also use the words able and ability to mean disabled or disability, as in: “Able team members are asked to share accessibility concerns with their team leader” or “The city council will defer to the recommendations of the ability committee.” This use of able and ability is criticized by some for being unclear or overly euphemistic and is not preferred over the straightforward terms disabled and disability.

Disability, inability imply a lack of power or ability. A disability is a functional limitation, physical or other: excused because of a physical disability; a temporary disability. Inability is a lack of ability, usually because of an inherent lack of talent, power, etc.: inability to talk; inability to do well in higher mathematics.