When I was a teenager, the youth centre I went to did an activity where in teams, we had to come up with as many insulting words or phrases as possible (swearing was fine, slurs weren’t). Naturally we responded to this challenge with glee and came up with many insults. Afterwards, we reviewed all the phrases and sorted them into categories, showing that the vast vast majority of insults belonged to just a few categories (one of the largest of which being disability).
Thanks for posting your comment. Ever since that youth centre session, I’ve been acutely aware of how ableist language can sneak its way into my vocabulary (and being disabled doesn’t exempt me from that risk), and yet I still find myself slipping up sometimes because of how normalised ableist language is.
Thank you for your reply, I genuinely appreciate it. Calling out ableist language is often met with resistance, defensiveness, and even ridicule, so it’s always really nice and encouraging to get a positive response.
That activity you did at the youth centre sounds incredible, and I wish that kind of thing was an essential part of every child (and adult)'s education, little things like inclusive language (E: and the improved attitudes and lesser stigma that come with it) are the foundation we build a better society on.
But as you say, we were all, disabled (in which case we have to grapple with internalised ableism as well as lateral) or otherwise, socialised in an ableist world, so that kind of language is the default, and it takes a conscious effort to avoid, and even when you do, we all slip up once in a while we’re only human, it’s about how we deal with the slip up that matters (getting defensive and doubling down vs learning and growing).
https://affinitymagazine.us/2018/01/08/stop-using-intelligence-based-insults-if-you-care-about-disabled-people/
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/no-joking-matter-words-and-disability
https://cultrface.co.uk/alternatives-to-ableist-terms/
https://genderbitch.wordpress.com/2011/04/02/words-offense/
When I was a teenager, the youth centre I went to did an activity where in teams, we had to come up with as many insulting words or phrases as possible (swearing was fine, slurs weren’t). Naturally we responded to this challenge with glee and came up with many insults. Afterwards, we reviewed all the phrases and sorted them into categories, showing that the vast vast majority of insults belonged to just a few categories (one of the largest of which being disability).
Thanks for posting your comment. Ever since that youth centre session, I’ve been acutely aware of how ableist language can sneak its way into my vocabulary (and being disabled doesn’t exempt me from that risk), and yet I still find myself slipping up sometimes because of how normalised ableist language is.
Thank you for your reply, I genuinely appreciate it. Calling out ableist language is often met with resistance, defensiveness, and even ridicule, so it’s always really nice and encouraging to get a positive response.
That activity you did at the youth centre sounds incredible, and I wish that kind of thing was an essential part of every child (and adult)'s education, little things like inclusive language (E: and the improved attitudes and lesser stigma that come with it) are the foundation we build a better society on.
But as you say, we were all, disabled (in which case we have to grapple with internalised ableism as well as lateral) or otherwise, socialised in an ableist world, so that kind of language is the default, and it takes a conscious effort to avoid, and even when you do, we all slip up once in a while we’re only human, it’s about how we deal with the slip up that matters (getting defensive and doubling down vs learning and growing).
Thanks again. <3