Precise, respectful wording
Inclusive language avoids terms that exclude or stereotype people when a neutral word says the same thing just as well. It’s usually also more precise: “firefighter” describes the job; “fireman” describes an assumption.
The checker flags terms in six areas, each with suggested alternatives:
- Gender: chairman → chair, manpower → workforce, mankind → humankind, “you guys” → “everyone”, policeman → police officer.
- Disability: wheelchair-bound → wheelchair user, “suffers from” → “has”, and casual uses of words like crazy, insane or lame.
- Race and culture: illegal alien → undocumented immigrant, powwow → meeting, spirit animal, off the reservation.
- Age: the elderly → older adults.
- Technical terms: blacklist/whitelist → blocklist/allowlist, master/slave → primary/replica, sanity check → quick check.
- Jargon such as ninja and guru in job adverts.
Context matters
These are suggestions, not rules. Quoting a source, naming an official title (“Chairman of the Federal Reserve”), or writing about the history of a term are all legitimate uses, click Ignore. Where a community has a clear preference (for example identity-first language in some disability communities), follow the people you’re writing about.
Your text is analysed on your device and never stored on a server.
Worked example
Here is what the Inclusive Language Checker returns for its built-in example. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
Hey guys, the chairman wants more manpower on the project. Add the new domain to the whitelist and run a sanity check. Our elderly users suffer from slow load times. It is crazy.| Found | Type | Suggestion |
|---|---|---|
| “Hey guys” | Gendered term | Hi everyone, Hi all |
| “chairman” | Gendered term | chair, chairperson |
| “manpower” | Gendered term | workforce, staff |
| “whitelist” | Tech term | allowlist, safelist |
| “sanity check” | Disability-related | quick check, confidence check |
| “elderly” | Age | older adults, older people |
| “crazy” | Disability-related | wild, surprising |
Questions
What is inclusive language?
Wording that avoids excluding or stereotyping people based on gender, disability, race, age or other characteristics, usually by choosing a neutral, more precise term.
Why is “whitelist” flagged?
Many organisations, including major tech companies and standards bodies, have adopted “allowlist” and “blocklist” as clearer, neutral alternatives.
Last reviewed · How Textkiln tools work