I hear that this has been tried before but it didn’t really land because finding viable substitutes for particular terms can be difficult. I’m fascinated by language though and I wanted to take a shot at this myself.

Just a disclaimer that I’m not trying to drag anyone over using any of these terms and I’m not going to pretend that I’m some paragon of anti-ableism myself - I have work to do on this front, you probably do too and if we all work together we can make some positive change and establish better habits and a more supportive culture in our communities.

Here’s a list of words that are more socially acceptable in their ableism and some suggestions for alternatives:

Crazy, Stupid, Dumb, Moronic, Idiotic

[In the sense that something is incorrect or bad]

Silly, foolish, absurd, ridiculous, laughable, nonsense/nonsensical, illogical, incomprehensible, inscrutable, irrational, contradictory, hypocritical, self-defeating, naive, ill-conceived, inane, asinine, counterproductive, unbelievable,

Crazy, Mad

[In the sense of letting loose or being enthusiastic]

Going wild, getting stuck into something, in a frenzy, on a rampage, being engrossed, head over heels, obsessed.

Psychotic, Psychopath, Psycho

[In the sense that something is cruel]

Vicious, bloodthirsty, monstrous, horrific, sadistic, heartless, brutal, ruthless, horrendous, reprehensible, despicable, depraved.

Crippled

Hamstrung, moribund, incapacitated, impaired, ineffective/ineffectual, hog-tied (lol).

What are some other ableist words that are pretty commonplace even amongst the left that you’ve heard?

Are there terms that I have overlooked or any ones that you use yourself that you’d like to replace?

  • RobotToaster@mander.xyzEnglish
    21·
    6 months ago

    self-defeating personality disorder was once a formal diagnosis, just thought you should be aware.

    I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this here, but as someone who’s been to a dozen different mental health, autism, and learning disability support groups in my time, with the exception of “psychotic” I’ve never seen anyone object to these terms.

    Tangential, but I kinda miss the mad pride movement that was around about a decade ago.

        • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          Interesting. I wonder what caused it to not spread? Obviously it seems to have picked up international copycats but it didn’t spread in the UK? Only one event per year nothing else in various local areas? It’s an interesting concept and it would be interesting to analyse specifically why it failed to spread and what gay pride did differently to successfully expand. Understanding it might end up being important information for future organisers trying to create mass movements for change.

    • JohnBrownNote [comrade/them, des/pair]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      As a descriptor for “Other personality disorder” it was included in the DSM-III in 1980.[2]: 330 [a]. It was discussed in an appendix of the revised DSM-III-R in 1987,[1]: 371  but was never formally admitted into the manual. The distinction was not seen as clinically valuable because of its significant overlap with other personality disorders (borderline, avoidant and dependent).

      doesn’t sound very established, like it’s associated enough with anything that could marginalize someone, or carries any social baggage.