Sponsors (16)
Introduced May 15, 2025 by Pete Sessions · Last progress May 15, 2025
The bill modernizes federal language to reduce stigma and improve clarity for people with disabilities and administrators, at the cost of modest but widespread administrative and compliance burdens and without creating new substantive legal protections.
People with intellectual and other disabilities will be referred to using modern, person-first and respectful terminology across federal statutes and regulations, reducing stigma in federal law and signaling greater respect.
Federal agencies and beneficiaries will have clearer, more consistent statutory and regulatory language across programs (Medicaid, housing, DOJ grants, etc.), reducing legal ambiguity about who provisions cover.
Courts, agencies, and beneficiaries gain clearer guidance that the changes are semantic, which should help avoid litigation or benefit disruptions tied only to wording changes.
Providers, state and local governments, and agencies will incur administrative and implementation costs to update regulations, forms, guidance, training, and IT systems to reflect the new terminology.
Inconsistent or incomplete updates across federal agencies and between federal and state systems could create temporary confusion for providers, beneficiaries, and courts about applicable terminology and authorities.
People with disabilities may not gain any new substantive legal protections or eligibility changes because the bill is limited to terminology updates, foregoing opportunities for policy improvements.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Replaces outdated terms like "mental retardation" with modern, person-first language such as "intellectual disability" across federal law and requires agencies to update regulations accordingly.
Updates wording across many federal laws to replace outdated phrases like "mental retardation" and "the mentally retarded" with modern, person-first language such as "intellectual disability" and "individuals with intellectual disabilities." It directs agencies to treat prior regulatory references as referring to the updated terms and clarifies that these changes are purely terminological and do not alter program eligibility, rights, duties, or definitions. The law also names itself the "Words Matter Act of 2025."