‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
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Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#2Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process?
A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it seem a bigot/racist/ass), and eventually that becomes the default word, until it starts sliding into slur territory and the cycle starts anew.
I'm not sure if this process can actually be prevented.
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#3Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…
John McWhorter refers to it as the Euphemism Treadmill but I can't say if it's a widely accepted term in the field
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#4"Differently abled" makes me think "yeah, the difference is I'm unable to do certain things" every time.
The universe is not balanced and fair. It didn't give me something in exchange for what it took from me, and that is okay.
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#5"Differently abled" makes me think "yeah, the difference is I'm unable to do certain things" every time. The universe is not balanced and fair. It didn't give me something in exchange for what it took from me, and that is okay.
Indeed, I've sometimes had the possibly insensitive but joking thought, "Differently abled? What abilities are they hiding? If timmy gets his legs crushed by a bus, can he fly?! Can he now shoot lasers from his nipples? As far as I'm concerned sick triceps from wheeling along don't count as an ability."
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#6Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…
I definitely recognize this process (and have heard the term euphemism treadmill from McWhorter the other commenter pointed out) but since when has "disabled" been used as a slur? I'm sure it's happened, but I'm not sure I've ever heard of someone using disabled in a derogatory manner like you would hear "retarded" commonly used now.
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#7Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…
It’s kind of like unending administrative bloat.
Realize that there are people making a living off of trying to find new things to be offended by.
Once you realize that, the world starts to make a lot of sense :)
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#8Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process? A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it se…
I definitely recognize this process (and have heard the term euphemism treadmill from McWhorter the other commenter pointed out) but since when has "disabled" been used as a slur? I'm sure it's happened, but I'm not sure I've ever heard of someone using disabled in a derogatory manner like you would hear "retarded" commonly used now.
I get the sense that "disabled" is still in its avant-garde phase. "retarded" passed that in my circles maybe a few years ago, but also there was a time where it was much like "disabled" is today.
Aside, somehow "retarded" got replaced by "special needs" or "short bus" in some circles which also sounds insulting to me, so maybe we'll continue this treadmill for awhile longer.
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#9At the risk of getting downvoted for sarcasm...
"Stop"? That's harsh "Tellling?" That excludes people who are unable to talk "People?" Whoa, aren't we constantly going on about animals and even plants being sentient creatues?
So "differently continue communicating to sentient creatures"... Oh wait, creationism? ...
Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is
#10"Differently abled" makes me think "yeah, the difference is I'm unable to do certain things" every time. The universe is not balanced and fair. It didn't give me something in exchange for what it took from me, and that is okay.
Indeed, I've sometimes had the possibly insensitive but joking thought, "Differently abled? What abilities are they hiding? If timmy gets his legs crushed by a bus, can he fly?! Can he now shoot lasers from his nipples? As far as I'm concerned sick triceps from wheeling along don't count as an ability."
Jokes like this are differently abled