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‘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

#11

Post by paxprose »

chillacy wrote: post #8
jeherr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

this button is disabled this button is retarded this button is special needs

I could go with the first two in a code review.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#12

Post by krnlpnc »

paxprose wrote: post #11
chillacy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

this button is disabled this button is retarded this button is special needs I could go with the first two in a code review.

And then you could go explain that second one to HR.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#13

Post by giraffe_lady »

david-gpu wrote: post #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.

It also fits better into the social model of disability, which I find very valuable, and assigns agency to the disabling where it belongs.

Ex: I don't experience my poor vision as a disability right now, because I'm easily able to access an aid that allows me to do everything I want to with no major downsides, in the form of glasses.

But if I were to become direly impoverished and lose access to them (again lol), I would be disabled by that circumstance. My physical state has stayed the same. The disability is in what I can't access and why, not the impairment itself, which can be addressed.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#15

Post by Someone »

bananarchist wrote: post #3
Freak_NL wrote: post #2

Did 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

I think the treadmill aspect also happens for words used by teenagers. They use, for example, “hip”. Once their children are teenagers, they don’t want to be like their parents, so they use “hot”. Their children, in turn, pick yet another word, making “cool” the new “hot” (chances are I’m not mentioning these in the historically correct order)

The same process seems to apply to social networks (“Facebook is for parents”)

In all these cases, there’s a mechanism that makes a word or product tabu within certain social circles, forcing them to come up with a new term.

The process that leads to things becoming tabu stays, however, so the cycle repeats itself.

I wouldn’t know what it would be, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a more generic term that applies to all of these.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#16

Post by adamomada »

krnlpnc wrote: post #12
paxprose wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this button is disabled this button is retarded this button is special needs I could go with the first two in a code review.

And then you could go explain that second one to HR.

It’s the French translation

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#17

Post by jfengel »

chillacy wrote: post #8
jeherr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Short bus" was always a slur.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#19

Post by wahern »

threads2 wrote: post #10
wcarron wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It would work better as stand-up comedy, when expectations are differently calibrated.

Re: ‘Disabled’ is not a bad word. Stop telling people with disabilities it is

#20

Post by [deleted] »

Freak_NL wrote: post #2

Did 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…

[deleted]
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