this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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Since I have been a child the word retard has NOT been used for people with developmental disabilities, it has only ever been used to describe people who've done something incredibly stupid that they had the capacity not to do. In fact, I have worked with low and high functioning people with developmental disabilities, and one of the high function people actually told me to use the word when he's being stupid, as I was using the word goof before, and that had unfortunate prison meanings that the resident didnt like.
My roommate is autistic and was in the special classes. He thinks it's funny to be called a retard when he's, you know, being retarded. He actively tells me not to stop doing it. Hell, he's the one who told me it was fine to begin with, haha
Hey! It doesn't matter if people say they are ok with it! White people are fixing the world by doing nothing but creating limitations to how we speak! Can't you understand how that's better?
Look at Latin-x and how it isn't usable by anyone that actually speaks Spanish and was entirely conceived of by rich kids in universities in America! It's just obviously better when we let others define our entire interactions with the world and immediately get upset to try to shame anyone not conforming to the point that shame isn't even usable because no one feels it anymore.
This is better this way. ¯\_ಠ_ಠ_/¯
2023 now… doesn’t matter what it used to be.
Yes, so thats 33 years where its NOT BEEN USED TO REFER TO PEOPLE WITH DEVELOPMENTMENTAL DISABILITIES
It absolutely was used to refer to development disabilities in the US during the 80s - as well as anyone acting like they were disabled.
And probably about 23 years where it’s been frowned on to use the word as a pejorative. Don’t use your capital letters with me dipshit.
I can capitalise whatever letters I damn well please, and like I said in another reply, insults by their nature have never been appropriate, and by their very nature are frowned upon.
Yet, you’re cool with doing it… okay.
Yes, yes I am. What a fucking gotcha that was. Oh no, my insult insulted people, whatever should I do
Whatever should you do? Probably stop being a cunt.
In this instance being a cunt to the idiots was my exact point. I dont care for their stupid ass opinions, and I dont for yours. IRL I make it a point to avoid people as sensitive as you as its more rewarding to spend my time around people who arent as fragile and sensitive
Go back to IRL then you dumb cunt.
lmao, if the word Retard is too scary for you, what makes you think cunt will scare me off the internet. I'm perfectly capable of just blocking you when I get tired of thos conversation
It’s not the word that I give a shit about; I just abhor people that opt to not attempt to use a modicum of respect when talking to other people. That word offends people for very specific reasons, and I (and most other people) phased it out of using it as a pejorative a long time ago.
If you want to act like a fucking child; keep on keeping on. You should block me now.
I mean, you could also block me, that works too. I'm not tired of this yet =D
I’m not the weak of personally sack of shit that used “blocking” as my solution. That was you.
You know, not too long ago the same argument you're making was made for the word cunt with regard to sexism instead of ableism. Just food for thought is all.
I assumed I was speaking with a man-child. It's not a problem to call a man-child a cunt.
Ya, true, they were acting a little retar... wait a second.
God I fucking hate "it's current year stop doing x"
The year isn't a fucking argument, dipshit retard
It’s generally intended to mean “pull your head out of your ass, what was once acceptable is no longer.”
Glad I was able to spell that out for you.
Your experience is not absolute. It's still abelist and offensive.
Nah man, I'm just not down for constantly keeping up to date with the treadmill of what words are and arent appropriate... especially for insults, which have never been meant to be appropriate. I dont fucking care if your feelings are so fragile that relatively tame words can hurt you
Then be prepared for people to rightly call you a bigot. Sorry you're done learning, grandpa but the world keeps turning.
And the fact that you now know better and still choose to hurt ableist language just means you're embracing your bigotry.
Calling someone a bigot based entirely on the words they use instead of the intent behind them is a great way to be wrong 80% of the time
Someone knowing using hurtful, bigoted language and claiming they didn't "mean it like that" is asinine and disingenuous. Using deliberately incorrect terminology nearly everyone will misinterpret and then complaining when they do is placing yourself upon a cross. It's a pathetic level of discourse usually outgrown by middle school.
You're assuming barely anyone keeps up with what the minority of people decide isn't okay to say anymore. Twitter isn't the world. Lemmy isn't the world. Reddit isn't the world. There may be millions of users, but the average person doesn't give a shit about any of these platforms.
If you think ableist pejoratives targeting neurodivergences and metal impairments are only present on social media, you need to touch some fucking grass. That shit hasn't been OK in decades. South Park even did an apologetic episode on it more than a decade ago which means the discussion was mainstream. And you should 100% not be taking social cues from that show.
Then that's a more honest response than your earlier one. It's not that you don't understand that others may be hurt by your language even though it's not a word you personally ever used to describe developmental disabilities, it's just that you don't give a shit.
Good on you for owning it (on the second try), I guess.
You mean like developmentally disabled people you work with who may have good reasons to be sensitive about certain words? I guess since one of those people said he was cool with it he speaks for all of them. I'm sure none of them have ever been hurt by hateful people using the R word about them.
50+ years old and in my entire life this isn't something I've found to be mentally taxing to keep up with. This is truly the flimsiest excuse I've ever seen for using shitty language. Just stick with "I don't fucking care."
Do you really not know that people can have multiple different reasons and motivations for their behaviours and actions? I've been honest this entire time, there are slurs I absolutely wont use because of their history and the immediate harm they cause, but retard isnt one of them, so my earlier explaination still stands. Its also true that people that get offended on others behalf annoy me and I dont care when I offend them. If I PERSONALLY offend someone for something that they PERSONALLY struggle with? I care in that scenario and I mark it down mentally to adapt to their needs and not hurt them again. You are a stranger on the internet, I dont care about you, I dont have the emotional space to. I didnt casually use the spicy word, I used it specifically as an insult towards people who I've been dealing with dogshit takes from. To be clear, I NEVER called any of my clients Retard, and this client I only did for them, after they requested it, and even then it made me uncomfortable because using that word to refer to someone with developmental disabilities IS gross. Nuance exists. And yes, I'm tired of the treadmill. I have Aspergers syndrome and now the treadmill is trying to tell me that not only did the DSM take that diagnosis away, I'm now not allowed to refer to my high functioning autism as Aspergers since the guy whom it was named after was a nazi, even though my autism has NEVER BEEN about that guy, and IM THE PERSON WHO HAS the diagnosis.
I don't fucking care.
xD Ok. Have a nice day!
No matter what it meant when you were a kid, it is still an ableist slur. Also if you aren't neurodivergent, then please just shut up.
I fucking am and its ablist of you to assume I'm not. Get bent white knight
That's a bit ablist isn't it? Saying someone can't participate in a conversation if they don't have any neurodivergence?
Would it be okay for a white person to say the n word and then claim they aren't racist?
The biggest difference, and why your comparison falls flat, is that "retarded" has more than one meaning. First off, it's been used medically. It's also used for something that slows or stops something "x retards progress of y", "flame-retardant" etc.
The N word has ALWAYS been used to refer to other people of a particular skin color, and usually negatively. As such, there's never really been a legitimate use case.