A few years ago, the legislature made some important changes to the language in our state laws by removing hurtful words related to people with developmental disabilities.  Last year, the legislature removed some really old definitions and terms related to mental illness.  This year a new law was passed and signed (HB 2667) that went through all sections of Arizona statutes (the bill was over 400 pages long) and replaced several terms with people first language.  For example, the new laws would refer to “persons with a disability”, rather than a “disabled person”.   The effort was driven by the community, working for positive changes in Arizona’s laws.