Ableism
There has been a lot of talk on my flist over the last few days about ableist slurring concerning both mental and physical disability. Much of it has been useful and educational, but some of it does seem a bit dramatic, to me at least; I am someone who was throwing around the word 'retard' casually until very recently, and was genuinely shocked when it was pouinted out to me that it is no longer considered right-on. At the risk of sounding like a hand-wringing, Daily Mail reading, knee jerk reactionary, I would be genuinely interested to know: How far do people think that scrubbing certain words from our vocabularies should go?
I say this because MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!!1!!11! my Dad is blind, and if he or I or anyone else called people out every time they said a politician "Had to be blind or stupid" to think massive budget cuts are unnecessary (Radio 2 this afternoon) or asked if we were blind upon failing to immediately find the car keys, I'd never have time to say anything else. Yet this is something I have never seen remarked upon. What counts as ableism, and what is just a figure of speech?
I say this because MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!!1!!11! my Dad is blind, and if he or I or anyone else called people out every time they said a politician "Had to be blind or stupid" to think massive budget cuts are unnecessary (Radio 2 this afternoon) or asked if we were blind upon failing to immediately find the car keys, I'd never have time to say anything else. Yet this is something I have never seen remarked upon. What counts as ableism, and what is just a figure of speech?