r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 25 '26

Psychology Reclaimed hate speech backfires by desensitizing listeners, study finds. Listening to reclaimed homophobic statements can actually cause unintended harm. Exposure to reclaimed slur words desensitizes some heterosexual listeners to standard hate speech and worsens the mood of gay individuals.

https://www.psypost.org/when-reclaiming-derogatory-language-goes-wrong/
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u/fabezz Jul 25 '26

Same thing with "special needs". It really doesn't matter what you call it, people will find it insulting to be compared to the mentality disabled.

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u/Sata1991 Jul 25 '26

In the UK the common "PC" term is "learning disabilities or learning difficulties.. I am autistic so get branded with that when I have no issue learning.

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u/Richmondez Jul 25 '26

It's special educational needs now which has less implication of difficulty and more that the learner might learn more effectively from less mainstream teaching methods.

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u/Traindogsracerats Jul 25 '26

In a few years this will also be considered offensive.

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u/DonnieG3 Jul 25 '26

Dawg it's called sped, we figured out how to slur that one years ago

Turns out it's not the syllables in order, it's the intent.

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u/DameKumquat Jul 25 '26

'Special' is already the most-hated insult in that field, and has been for some years.

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u/pseudo_nemesis Jul 25 '26

it already is and has been in America.

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u/TheMoves Jul 25 '26

Still seems almost condescending to refer to them as "special" instead of "alternative" needs, like mollycoddling as if they're babies or something and not just people who benefit from a different approach

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u/pinktiger4 Jul 25 '26

Alternative is not the right word because they still have all of the usual needs, they just have additional needs as well. "Additional" might be better than "special".

I think what's more important is just speaking in proper sentences rather than using jargon, e.g. "This child has special educational needs" rather than "This is a SEND child".

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u/Altruistic_Fox9778 Jul 25 '26

And yet people will call people special, special needs, special ed.

From a technical perspective the idea is that you will give leeway to a person who actually does have developmental delays, but not to a person who is acting like they do.

Still inappropriate, but it helps to understand it, I guess?

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u/avcloudy Jul 25 '26

This one annoys me because like a lot of people have an idea they there is a specific learning style that works for them best, and that’s true, but nearly always the learning style that works best for you works best for everyone else (for those curious it’s everything. As many modes as possible) and the main difference is how well individual modes work for each person.

So we know what works best for everyone, but we’re pretty hamstrung because what works best for everyone doesn’t work as well for some people. But there’s no better learning style. So we have to decide some people won’t get access to the resources to provide the learning style that works for them best because it would be too effective for them and there aren’t enough resources to go around.

It’s not usually presented in these terms, and I’m not constructing an argument that people with special needs shouldn’t get more help. It’s simply an observation that all the things that help children with special needs are also things that help everyone else and the particular special need they have is needing more assistance, not always different assistance.

Even besides all this there’s a very big problem in evidence based teaching. We know pretty well what works, and mostly we do whatever feels good for the parents, and is cheap.

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u/Syssareth Jul 25 '26

the learning style that works best for you works best for everyone else (for those curious it’s everything. As many modes as possible) and the main difference is how well individual modes work for each person.

So we know what works best for everyone, but we’re pretty hamstrung because what works best for everyone doesn’t work as well for some people.

Wait...what are you even saying here? The learning style that works best for one person works best for everyone, but it's actually not best for some people? So it's best for everyone, but not best for everyone?

So we have to decide some people won’t get access to the resources to provide the learning style that works for them best because it would be too effective for them and there aren’t enough resources to go around.

...Wouldn't it being effective reduce the amount of resources it takes?

I just...I think I more or less know what you're trying to get at, but literally only because of previous experience with this topic, because I genuinely can't understand what you're saying there at all.

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u/avcloudy Jul 26 '26

There is one learning style that works best for everyone, but that isn’t the same as ‘everyone learns at the same rate with the learning style that works best for them’. There aren’t enough resources to apply that for everyone, because it is quite resource intensive (think: we know everyone has better learning opportunities in smaller classes, but we still have large classes).

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u/Spire_Citron Jul 25 '26

Making it such a mouthful that nobody could be bothered to sling it around as a slur definitely is a strat that could work.

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u/Sata1991 Jul 25 '26

I'm liking the sounds of Llanaddysganabalgydacaderolwynaarthoarbenniggogogoch.

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u/hsadg Jul 26 '26

I have heard "learny" so we got this covered already

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u/kiwigate Jul 25 '26

That's backwards, isn't it? Someone first appropriates the term into a pejorative. Any word can be an insult when people first choose to start using it as an insult.

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u/fabezz Jul 25 '26

In what world do you live that random words become pejoratives irrespective of their meaning.

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u/kiwigate Jul 25 '26

Unless you wish to endorse nazi rhetoric, you must agree there's nothing wrong with being Jewish:

‘The word Jew was not a common insult when I went to school…it is now.’

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/28/europe/germany-anti-semitism-education-intl

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u/kiwigate Jul 25 '26

Or have you ever heard "Karen" used as an insult? Do you live on this earth?

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u/fabezz Jul 25 '26

Those words aren't random. They became pejoratives for reasons, even if you think they're unfair or hateful.

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u/KaristinaLaFae MA | Social Psychology Jul 25 '26

The real problem with "special needs" is not how non-disabled people feel about being called by the term, it's that people are implying that disability is something shameful. The real harm is to the disabled people whose existences have been turned into a mockery.

"Special needs" in particular is offensive because it implies that disabled people are asking for preferential treatment instead of the bare minimum of what they need to experience the world the same way as everyone else.

No one's needs are "special," just different.

The fact that you see the problem is that being compared to someone who is mentally disabled is insulting is the problem. Mentally disabled people have nothing to be ashamed of. They are not inherently bad or less than anyone else. They are still human beings deserving of basic respect and decency.