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?
Calling a situation Crazy is punching across the isle at the person who hears and gets dis-regulated. Switching what the word is doesn’t change the situation. I’m 100% positive that there are people who would not like to hear things called lame or crippled because yes that is still used disparagingly.
where, by whom? zero points for fossils like “jesus healed the sick and mended the lame”
I’m sorry, are we not in a room talking about this very phenomena. It’s not about specific actions, it’s about a pattern of disrespect and the underlying structure.
i think you want the “how do i call someone stupid without being ableist” branch rather than this one. if it’s about cripple i’m 99% sure the problem was that “a cripple” is dehumanizing and almost everyone who talked liked that is dead now, not that systems or machines being disabled or degraded in efficacy reinforces ableism somehow. If it’s about lame, then I personally am infinitely more disrespected by etymology or church nerds than by the primary non-ableist usage. Nobody is getting called lame in their day to day on the basis of disability in contemporary american english, and the people or things getting called lame or lame-o are not being called that because their legs don’t work.
I’ll cede lame after we talk about “sucks” being misogynist and/or bottom-phobic.
Trigger warning: language
spoiler
“removed” is dehumanizing. “Gay boy”. “removed.” “removed.” I’ve been called a lot of different things. That kind of thinking still exists. None of those people are dead. They had kids and the pejorative treadmill continued.
Exactly with sucks, that is problematic language. “removed” is not an insult, yet it’s used as one depending on context. It’s not a one after the other thing. It’s not “we’ll deal with trans rights once we’ve solved gay rights”. No, it’s all at once. That’s the point of solidarity.
maybe you missed the I personally in there. I can’t walk right, and i’m saying lame has never been directed at me or anyone else on that basis for decades outside of a bible verse.
Well congrats. I’m sure you have been disparaged in other ways though. The exact words don’t matter, intent does. The intent hasn’t changed for generations, just the words have.
yeah the euphemism treadmill is why i thought you wanted the other, rather on the nose, branch.
I’m 99% we’re making the same points at each other. I’m pretty sure I agree with you, and because I like you I want to explain more better if I can.
Just to clarify, this is not my position. I am actually upset at people being told “you can’t call people stupid” and just hearing “stupid is bad word now, what word can I say instead?” Those are the same people that stopped saying the R slur and swapped to stupid. Those are closely related to the same people still calling things gay and refusing to change.
There is no appropriate word to use if you want to disparage someone. Whether that’s intellect, gender, attractiveness, or anything else like that. Those are just social norms. You aren’t stupid, you just don’t fit the capitalist model you are expected to fit.
It all sort of originates from the desire to point out what is different and other it. On the left we want to other the people that don’t fit in with us and make them feel bad so they change. “Gusano, Chud, etc” On the right they want to other the people that don’t fit in and shame them into changing. The differences aren’t that stark in a lot of ways.