25.734.10 100th Legislative Session SCR607
2025 South Dakota Legislature
Senate Concurrent Resolution 607
ENROLLED
AN ACT
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. 25.734.10 2 SCR607
SCR607 ENROLLED
Adopted by the Senate, February 13, 2025
Concurred in by the House of Representatives, February 20, 2025
_____________________ _____________________
Chris Karr Peggy Laurenz
President Pro Tempore Secretary of the Senate
of the Senate
_____________________ _____________________
Jon Hansen Patricia Miller
Speaker of the House Chief Clerk