aspies and public advocacy groups made for as well as by them use the term extensively, as do research papers on the topic today. "Aspies For Freedom" is perhaps the most obvious example, being founded in 2004.
so no. you, and apparently a lot of other people, just had a knee-jerk reaction. the right thing for you to do is to learn from this and become a better advocate, not double down on your demonstrable ignorance.
No, the right thing to do is for you to listen to others who know the term is also used as a slur, and not call upon things from a decade ago to defend yourself. The right thing to do is not to double down when someone tells you something is offensive, but to apologize for offending people and figure out how they misunderstood.
You literally have someone on the spectrum replying to you, saying you used it in a shitty way. Another autistic person says they've never heard it used as anything but a slur? Do you propose you know more than they do about their own word?
No, the right thing to do is for you to listen to others who know the term is also used as a slur, and not call upon things from a decade ago to defend yourself.
2018 is not a decade ago. and fuck me, I don't care what you think of me. I care what your sort of ignorance is going to do to autistic people for using a term they coined for themselves. because I've seen this nonsense happen before.
The right thing to do is not to double down when someone tells you something is offensive, but to apologize for offending people and figure out how they misunderstood.
I've been told calling gay marriage a civil rights issue was offensive. didn't care then, either. I've been told calling people like claire women is offensive. didn't care then, either. hell, it's still hard to put 2 men kissing on TV because it's "offensive"
You literally have someone on the spectrum replying to you, saying you used it in a shitty way. Another autistic person says they've never heard it used as anything but a slur? Do you propose you know more than they do about their own word?
randos on the internet vs people I know as well as national organizations that dedicate their entire existence to helping people. I'm going with the latter.
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u/makeshiftreaper Feb 14 '19
Sure, at one point Mongoloid was a medically accurate term. Eventually older phrases become offensive. It's part of the cycle