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Post by ayla on Feb 2, 2022 17:25:44 GMT -5
The word nerd in me has to ask: how do you feel about this one?
I see it used a lot as an in-group term of endearment (similar to the n-word or bitch).
I can’t remember the last time I encountered someone using the word un-ironically. Is this still an issue? Are uninformed ABs saying it with no sense of it being a slur?
Related question: is it still being used as an actual slur?
I’ve also talked to a number of people that get a sexual thrill out of (the humiliation of?) using this forbidden word to refer to themselves, or asking a partner to do so. Thoughts?
What are your reactions to this polarizing word?
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Post by infinatedreams on Feb 2, 2022 18:30:13 GMT -5
Personally ive never liked that word, always found it insulting and demeaning.
Can say i cant think of any situation I would find it 'endearing' but thats just me, others may feel diferently.
Even disabled dudes calling each other 'cripple' (same with gimp) I find in bad taste but thats up to them.
Think its a like it or hate it word.
Not for me ... interesting to see other perspectives
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Post by darthoso on Feb 2, 2022 18:31:38 GMT -5
There has been an effort to reclaim the word, such as with #CripTheVote. I don't think it ever had the same sting as other slurs, but could definitely be used that way in anger. Not using the r-word has gotten a lot more attention since it is used as a slur way more often than cripple. I personally haven't heard many ABs say it, wheelchair bound and handicapped are more common.
For me context matters a lot with how it is used. Other PWDs and close friends get an automatic pass, everyone else depends on if they should know better or aren't using it as an insult. The public's knowledge of PWD issues is non existent so personally I rank using cripple pretty low on the priority list so I wouldn't go nuclear over it.
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Post by mike on Feb 2, 2022 20:38:21 GMT -5
I have an opinion that most people won't agree with. There have been many terms that change over time, often because they start to be used in a pejorative context. So for example, in times past the terms idiot & moron were the medically correct terms that were used to describe people whose IQ fell into certain ranges. The terms started to be utilized to describe people we considered dim or simply wanted to insult. So the terms were replaced by 'mentally retarded', which then was used as an insult, so the 'correct' term became 'intellectually challenged'. Some previously acceptable terms were descriptive of the condition so for example crippled was generally used to refer to someone who had mobility issues. The term then changed to handicapped, then segued into disabled. Of course today the 'correct' term is physically challenged. Well that is pretty vague, after all an Olympic athlete is challenged. To me the continuous change to terms does nothing to address the pejorative usage of the terms it just introduces a temporary respite to the misuse of the term, until the new term also starts to be used as an insult. The issue is the pejorative usage of the term, not the term itself. Changing the term is simply a way of temporarily avoiding the usage. Personally, if someone used cripple to describe a physical problem it wouldn't bother me, but used as an insult it would. The other evasion is to use a vague term that avoids reference to the specific issue, so imagine you're preparing for a dinner party and you are informed that one of the guests is 'differently-abled', how would you know what they needed to accommodate their condition? If told they were in a wheelchair you would know there is a likelihood you need to be ready to accommodate them. You could for example plan on seating them in such a way that you could remove their seat if necessary. Don't seat them in such a way as to make an awkward situation when moving to the table. If informed they were deaf or blind you could more readily prepare. As far as pejorative usage, that's the specific issue not the term itself, and people will always find a way of insulting each other. The time that bothered me the most is when someone referred to me as "Forrest" because I wear braces. There is no social rule to preclude the use of that term, but the insult was clear.
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Post by ayla on Feb 2, 2022 20:45:17 GMT -5
I have an opinion that most people won't agree with. There have been many terms that change over time, often because they start to be used in a pejorative context. This is a known phenomenon in linguistics. George Carlin has an excellent bit on it, and later on the author Stephen Pinker coined the term “euphemism treadmill” to describe it. Just as you said: words introduced to replace an offensive word, over time become offensive themselves, and are then replaced by a newer replacement…and so on forever, pretty much.
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uknownquad
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Post by uknownquad on Feb 2, 2022 21:13:52 GMT -5
I think words are words take everything with a grain of salt I drink coffee stronger than most people’s feelings
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Post by someonerandom on Feb 2, 2022 21:18:31 GMT -5
I don’t ever hear people other than myself or my quad friend say “crippled”. I think I would dislike it if an able bodied person used that word, but I don’t know any who do. I enjoy saying it myself though. The one that really annoys me is when people say “paralyzed by fear”. I’m like dude, when you say that it means you can’t do anything because fear. Paralyzed people can do a lot. I know it’s just a phrase, like how I still say I’m going for a “walk” sometimes. Still annoys me though.
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Post by ContingentlyComposite on Feb 2, 2022 22:11:29 GMT -5
I've been teaching bioethics for the last couple semesters and I've been teaching it in a very disability-focused way (surprise, I know). I'm amazed at how often my students use the term, freely and speaking in front of the whole class. They seem to have no recognition that it is not synonymous with disabled, and are clearly not intending to use it as a slur. I'm still kind of taken aback every time this happens (aren't young college kids in cities supposed to be woke and shit?!). I don't know if I've become more sensitive to it or what but I've been hearing my students say it in other classes as well. It's weird because I can't remember many times before this last year when I heard students use the term. The only other explanation I can think of for this (apart from course subject matter) is that I've moved to the south.
I think what really rubs me the wrong way about it is not that it's a term I think of as offensive, but that even though my students aren't using it as an intentional slur, it's always used in the context of saying (in effect) that being disabled is an awful thing and becoming disabled is about as bad as dying. 'Disabled' does not get used in a way that's exclusively negative like this.
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Post by Armus on Feb 2, 2022 22:28:45 GMT -5
I very freely use it to describe myself. It doesn't have the same force or history behind it as literally any other slur that I can think of. If a total stranger came up to me and referred to me as a cripple, I'd be surprised, but not offended. I'm far more offended by words invented by the ableds to make themselves feel better like "handicapable" and "differently abled" and shit like that. I'd straight up rather be called a slur than be talked down to and infantilized in that way.
That said, I mostly use it among a certain in-group of other disabled folks and close able bodied friends, mostly because I know most other disabled people don't really like it and I don't want to normalize it outside of just fucking around with people that know better. Though now that I think about it, it does make an appearance in my tinder profile.
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Post by Braced4Impact on Feb 3, 2022 1:19:20 GMT -5
It depends on its use and intentions. I tend to use PWD, then gimpy and disabled, then handicapped, and finally crippled. The terms I loathe are the well-meaning PC ones like "special", differently-able (everyone has different abilities,) and nauseating ones like handi-capable. And what I mean by the use is for instance: "my car was left crippled on the side of the road" doesn't bother me. But if someone said "look at that cripple trying to make it up that ramp," that would. Same with gimpy, I'll see sports announcer say "he looks a little gimpy after that hit," which doesn't bother me. It's all in the context of how it's used.
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kro354
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Post by kro354 on Feb 3, 2022 21:52:35 GMT -5
I have an opinion that most people won't agree with. There have been many terms that change over time, often because they start to be used in a pejorative context. This is a known phenomenon in linguistics. George Carlin has an excellent bit on it, and later on the author Stephen Pinker coined the term “euphemism treadmill” to describe it. Just as you said: words introduced to replace an offensive word, over time become offensive themselves, and are then replaced by a newer replacement…and so on forever, pretty much. Amen. This reminds me of a recent trip to the West Coast where apparently "homeless" is a now bad word, to be replaced with "unhoused"...which is of course the same thing, but using a new word is supposed to make it sound "better". (Another example: Gypsies are now called Roma because of the negative connotations with the former.) So this line of logic applies to many words we use across society. (George Carlin is a genius who was never afraid to go against the grain ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) )
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Post by ayla on Feb 4, 2022 12:17:01 GMT -5
Amen. This reminds me of a recent trip to the West Coast where apparently "homeless" is a now bad word, to be replaced with "unhoused"...which is of course the same thing, but using a new word is supposed to make it sound "better". Brandeis has a whole collection of these, some of which I think make sense (better to say “enslaved person” than “slave” since being enslaved is something done to them rather than something inherent about them) and some that seem a bit of a stretch. Apparently we are encouraged to do away with “walk in” services as that is an ableist term; “drop in” is now preferred. www.brandeis.edu/parc/accountability/languagelist.html
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southernman
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Post by southernman on Feb 4, 2022 12:37:34 GMT -5
I probably wouldn't like it if I heard an able bodied person use it but I use "my crippled ass" when referring to myself sometimes but that's just me.
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Post by Dr. BiPAP Sachin on Feb 4, 2022 14:06:29 GMT -5
In a broader sense, I think it all depends on context and intention. This doesn't mean there won't be consequences or repercussions for whatever somebody says, whether intentional or not. I personally don't like if an AB person uses the word crippled, especially without knowing fully the situation and background story of any PWD, but I don't mind sometimes using the term to refer to myself or as a form of endearment for some of my fellow PWD peers in a group setting (only if they're comfortable with it, of course).
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writerg
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Post by writerg on Feb 4, 2022 14:42:58 GMT -5
I am not a fan of word policing people in any way. I would rather people focus on lifestyle-altering issues (employment, dating, friends, TRANSPORTATION, having my pants on each day). These wording debates in the disabled world only distract from the energy and resources needed to make real progress.
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