i do not believe these words should be abandoned!
in this post i hope to call attention to the same destructive processes happening to “neurodiverse” as to all the other terms. particularly i want to call out the ableist motivations behind it. my intent is to critique society’s weaponization of words, not the words themselves.
OP, at a certain point there has to be a word to describe what is happening. Just because someone uses it in a derogatory manner doesn’t mean that you have to abandon the word or that every usage of it is derogatory.
See: gay
Alternatively, make a third meme about it on a niche Internet forum.
I never said that anyone should abandon the word?!? In fact, I would far prefer reclaiming of slurs that reempowers the disabled community with their own language. But you didn’t know that because instead of asking you jumped to an entirely different topic.
This is you right now.
We understand that. Tell society that. We’re not exactly the march in the street crowd so when we get yelled at we go back to the corner and think of a new name.
It’s the Euphemism Treadmill
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill
Hijacking this comment to say: I don’t even think the word should be abandoned. That’s an assumption that rugul totally made up.
My aim in posting is to be descriptive, showing the pattern of behavior, rather than perscriptive. I’m not telling anyone what to do or say other than “hey, be aware of how this tends to happen!”
Funny thing is the neurodivergent aren’t the ones running on that treadmill.
It literally doesn’t matter what you change the word to, that’s the new word I’m calling my friend when he does something incredibly stupid.