Heeding the words of disability rights advocates, Major League Baseball has renamed the roster designation for players recovering from injury. Formerly known as the “disabled list,” MLB will now call it the “injured list,” the league confirmed this week.
“The principal concern is that using the term 'disabled' for players who are injured supports the misconception that people with disabilities are injured and therefore are not able to participate or compete in sports,” Jeff Pfeifer, MLB's senior director of league economics and operations, wrote in a memo to clubs in December. The memo was obtained by ESPN, which first reported the news.