Inclusive Language Checker
Paste your writing to check it against APA's bias-free language guidance — gendered terms such as mankind and chairman, labels such as the elderly, and outdated or stigmatizing wording about disability, health, race and identity. Each flag comes with alternatives and a short explanation, and nothing is changed for you. Free, no sign-up.
Runs entirely in your browser — your text is never uploaded.
Paste or type some text to check it against APA's bias-free language guidance.
How to Use the Inclusive Language Checker
- Paste your text. The check runs as you type, entirely in your browser.
- Review each highlight. Colours group the terms by area — gender, age, disability, health, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and socioeconomic status. Hover for alternatives.
- Read the explanation. The list under your text says why APA's guidance flags each term and what it suggests instead.
- Decide in context. Change the wording where the alternative is more accurate and respectful; keep it in a quotation, a title, a proper name, or where it is the term the people you describe use for themselves.
The Guidance Behind the Checker
The checks follow chapter 5 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., 2020), APA Style's online bias-free language guidelines, and APA's Inclusive Language Guide (2nd ed., 2023). Two principles run through all of them: describe people at the right level of specificity, and call people what they call themselves. A term is flagged here because APA's guidance lists it as problematic and offers something better — not because a word list disapproves of it.
| Area | Flagged | Consider instead |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | mankind, man-made, chairman, policeman | humankind, artificial, chair, police officer |
| Pronouns | he or she, his/her, s/he | singular they (they, their, them) |
| Age | the elderly, senior citizens | older adults, adults aged 65 and older |
| Disability | wheelchair-bound, special needs, normal control group | wheelchair user, disabled, nondisabled control group |
| Health | suffers from, committed suicide, addict | has, died by suicide, person with a substance use disorder |
| Race and ethnicity | Caucasian, minorities, non-White | White, the specific groups, people of color |
| Identity and status | homosexual, the poor, the homeless | gay or lesbian, people with low incomes, people experiencing homelessness |
Context Decides
No word list knows who you are writing about or why, so the checker is deliberately narrow:
- Quotations are skipped. A source's or a participant's words are evidence. The number of skipped matches is shown so you know they were seen.
- Titles and names are skipped. Chairman Mao, a Freshman Seminar and the Oriental Institute are names, not word choices.
- Labels are flagged only as labels. The poor are is a label for people; the poor results is an adjective. Suffers from is flagged about a person or a health condition, not in the study suffers from a small sample.
- Established terms stay. The slave trade, prisoners of war and sexual and gender minorities are standard and are not flagged.
Community preference matters most of all. APA accepts both person-first language (person with a disability) and identity-first language (disabled person, autistic person, Deaf person). Its guide notes that many autistic people and people with sensory disabilities prefer identity-first language, while many people with physical and intellectual disabilities prefer person-first. When you know what the people you are writing about call themselves, use that. In the Try an example paragraph, the checker flags nine terms, from mankind to minorities; the carer's quoted remark about the elderly is left alone and counted as skipped.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is bias-free language in APA style?
- Bias-free language is APA's term for wording that describes people accurately and respectfully, without irrelevant labels or stereotypes. Chapter 5 of the APA Publication Manual (7th ed.) sets out general principles — describe people at the right level of specificity, and be sensitive to labels — and applies them to topics including age, disability, gender, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.
- Does APA allow singular they?
- Yes. APA endorses singular they for a generic person whose gender is unknown or irrelevant, and for anyone who uses they as their pronoun. It says to use he or she only when you know those pronouns fit the people described, and never to use (s)he or s/he.
- Should I use person-first or identity-first language?
- Follow the preference of the people you are describing. APA accepts both: person-first (person with autism) puts the person before the condition, while identity-first (autistic person) treats the characteristic as part of identity. If you are unsure, APA recommends asking — or following the self-advocacy groups for that community.
- Is it wrong to use the word elderly?
- APA's guidance lists the elderly and elderly people among terms to avoid, because they set older people apart as a group. It prefers older adults, older people or a specific range such as adults aged 65 and older. Quotations and titles are a different matter, and the checker skips them.
- Why is “suffers from” flagged?
- APA's Inclusive Language Guide lists suffers from and afflicted with as wording to avoid for health conditions, because it frames a condition as a tragedy. Neutral alternatives are has, lives with or was diagnosed with. The checker flags it only when it is about a person or a condition, not in a phrase such as the analysis suffers from missing data.
- Can this checker make my writing unbiased?
- No tool can. It catches specific words that APA's guidance flags, but bias also lives in what you emphasize, which characteristics you mention at all, and assumptions no word list can see. Use it as a first pass, then reread your draft with APA's principles in mind.
- Does it upload my text?
- No. The rules are built into the page and run in your browser; nothing is sent or stored.