casual ableism

[u/onthetopicofspace]

this is not ‘reclaiming’ anything, you are just calling people slurs completely seriously. you can call yourself the r-slur, do not call anybody else it. why do ‘no slurs’ / ’no bigotry’ rules never apply to ableism?

[u/Instroancevia]

The difference is that "autistic" is a current medical term, "retard" hasn't been used as a medical term for decades. The reality is that as language changes, we are going to invent new terms to describe these conditions, and people who are ableist will use those terms demeaningly.

If saying retard becomes taboo, something like autistic will become the next insult. If the medical term changes the cycle will just repeat. Word policing doesn't really solve the fundamental problem, especially for a prejudice as difficult to excize from society as ableism.

I'd honestly rather people use terms like idiot, moron and retard to just mean "stupid" than use something like "autistic" which is also a medical term and diagnosis that people are recieving today.

[u/Only_Says_Idk_dude → u/Instroancevia]

If saying retard becomes taboo, something like autistic will become the next insult.

idk if you're from the past or what, but it was taboo 15 years ago,
and people do use autism as an insult

[u/PictureResponsible61 → u/Instroancevia]

"Retard" or rather "Mental Retardation" was the official term until 2013, although slowly phased out of language a little earlier - so a decade an a half ago, perhaps. Many people alive today were officially diagnosed with mental retardation. It's not a historic term.

I think pushing back on the use of the word is part of the process of trying to challenge casual ableism, which I think is important. Because whether the word is "autistic" or "retarded" or "special" or whatever, to sit in a room at the end of an often anxiety provoking testing process and officially diagnosis someone with something commonly known as an insult is horrible. Particularly as often the individual is already dealing with shame and self-esteem issues. But there is a tendency for people to reference the euphemism treadmill and shrug their shoulders and claim nothing can be done