The subject terms disabilities and disabled are now used in most library catalogues and article databases.  However, the terms handicaps and handicapped were used in the past.  If you are searching for retrospective materials (for instance, if you are researching the history of society's attitudes toward disabled people), you will need to use these older terms.

For information about specific disabilities and conditions, use specific terms.  For example, visual impairment, blindness, autism, spinal cord injury.