Why “Latinx”, “womxn”, “folx” Are Bad for Accessibility

1. Screen Readers Choke

NVDA, VoiceOver, and JAWS read “womxn” as “wom-ex-en” or “wom-zen”. The letter “x” is not a gender marker in any dictionary.

2. Spellcheck Fails

Microsoft Editor, Grammarly, and browser spellcheck flag these as errors → users waste time correcting invented words.

3. Real-World Rejection

• Latinx: Pew Research (2020): 97 % of U.S. Hispanics do not use “Latinx”.
• womxn: No major dictionary (OED, Merriam-Webster) recognizes it.
• folx: “Folks” was never gendered. Adding “x” creates confusion for zero gain.

4. Non-Native Speakers Suffer

English learners see “Latinx” and think it’s standard. It’s not. It’s activist jargon.

The Fix: Use Existing Neutral Language

• Instead of “Latinx” → Latino/Latina or Hispanic
• Instead of “womxn” → women
• Instead of “folx” → folks or everyone

Neutral language already exists. Don’t invent broken grammar.

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