Reminder that “tard” and all variations of it (“fucktard,” “libtard,” etc) are literally just a “PC” way of calling someone a r*t*rd and I’d really appreciate it if my mutuals stopped putting words like that on my dashboard.

I had to get schooled on this one myself a while back; I’d mistakenly assumed it was meant to evoke “bastard”. But nope!

As ever, we learn better, we do better.

The same is true for the ‘reeeeeee’ noise.

^Important addition

Most of the people who say these things absolutely know what they mean, and choose to say them anyway. On the off chance that someone truly does not know what they mean, here’s your chance to learn and do better.

it’s making fun of meltdowns! its formally called “autistic screeching”, its a stereotype made to mock us and its absolutely offensive 💞💞

[ID: tags reading #whats that last thing about ??? /end ID]

Reminder that “tard” and all variations of it (“fucktard,” “libtard,” etc) are literally just a “PC” way of calling someone a r*t*rd and I’d really appreciate it if my mutuals stopped putting words like that on my dashboard.

I had to get schooled on this one myself a while back; I’d mistakenly assumed it was meant to evoke “bastard”. But nope!

As ever, we learn better, we do better.

The same is true for the ‘reeeeeee’ noise.

^Important addition

Most of the people who say these things absolutely know what they mean, and choose to say them anyway. On the off chance that someone truly does not know what they mean, here’s your chance to learn and do better.

it’s making fun of meltdowns! its formally called “autistic screeching”, its a stereotype made to mock us and its absolutely offensive 💞💞

[ID: tags reading #whats that last thing about ??? /end ID]

Instead of making fun of people who do things at an older age that are normally done younger ( like getting their diploma or GED, learning to drive, even learning to read ) how about you:

Don’t use disabilities as insults. Don’t use disabilities as insults. Don’t use disabilities as insults. Don’t use disabilities as insults.

If you would ever call anyone a “degenerate” or “freak” in hostility, for any reason, under any circumstances, you’re already on too many levels of fascism. Unpack it.

This.

Also what I like about this post: the mention of “levels of fascism”, fascist isn’t something you become one day with The Wrong Thought, it’s something that slowly comes, makes itself a nice comfy place in your brain. It starts with rhetoric, it tries to appear normal, it disguises itself as “common sense”, as “it’s just an insult for bad people”.

And it’s something you can peel off, starting with understanding that “degenerate” or “freak” aren’t weightless words, they are loaded, and people can be suspicious of you or don’t want to interact with you on the basis of you calling fellow humans “degenerates” for any reason whatsoever.

“don’t use ableist language” doesn’t mean “tag your ableist slurs so people can blacklist them”; it means don’t weaponize sickness, it means don’t pin institutionalized violence on disability, it means don’t use our dehumanization as a rhetoric device, it means don’t say someone’s Messed Up In The Head or Emotionally Handicapped whether or not i’m not around to get mad.

it means “don’t use ableist language”. christ.

Hey PSA for the abelist assholes

Stop adding “tard” to words. Just because you don’t say the full word doesn’t mean you’re not being a dick. Eg: Femtard, libtard, fucktard.

We all know what you’re saying. We all know what you mean. Just because you make it a portmanteau with some other thing you deem insulting does not make it less of a slur, or any better than flat out calling someone the R slur.

You’re not fooling anyone.

THANK YOU

Don’t use disabilities as insults. Don’t use disabilities as insults. Don’t use disabilities as insults. Don’t use disabilities as insults.

While I know I can’t actually convince people to not use the “r*tard” in any context, I would like to say that there’s no actual reason to use it given how many other words there are for “to slow/stop”

delay, slow down, slow up, hold back, hold up, set back, postpone, put back, detain, decelerate, hinder, hamper, obstruct, inhibit, impede,check, restrain, restrict.

There’s no reason to use it so like why use a word that makes an entire group of people be in definitely emotional pain and may even result in physical pain?

No, it is not in fact okay to call someone with a mental illness “crazy”. It’s not “not a big deal”, and it’s not “just a joke”. It’s an awful outdated stigma that needs to die. And yes this includes other people with mental illnesses. I don’t care if you’re not offended by it. A lot of us already have to deal with either stigma or hiding our symptoms to stay away from stigma, so take your “just a joke” and throw it in the trash where it belongs.

Autism doesn’t equal intellectual disability, but intellectually disabled autistic people exist and they are just as important, human and as deserving of respect, autonomy and support as everyone else.

Autism doesn’t equal having a mental illness, but mentally ill autistic people exist and they are just as important, human and as deserving of respect, autonomy and support as everyone else.

Many autistic people are or will become capable of working, but autistic people who are unable to manage a job exist and they are just as important, human and as deserving of respect, autonomy and support as everyone else.

Many autistic people are or will become capable of living on their own, but  autistic people who will never be able to live on their own exist and they are just as important, human and as deserving of respect, autonomy and support as everyone else.

Autism doesn’t equal being unable to feel affective empathy, but autistic people who are unable to feel affective empathy exist and they are just as important, human and as deserving of respect, autonomy and support as everyone else.

Many autistic people are verbal, but non-verbal autistic people exist and they are just as important, human and as deserving of respect, autonomy and support as everyone else.

Me: -so after it became apparent that ‘retarded’ had become a term of abuse, educators and psychiatrists switched to other terms like ‘handicapped’ or ‘special needs’ in an attempt to -

George Orwell, whom I’ve dragged forward in time with my arcane powers because I’m lonely and want someone to talk to: You have a telephone in your pocket?  It listens to you all the time?

Me: Never mind about that, the point is, young people now mock each other by sending the wheelchair emoji - that’s a type of electronic heiroglyph - to suggest mental deficiency and shout SPESHUL!!!! while doing offensive imitations of disabled facial expressions and posture.  So any attempt to lexographically make crimethink impossible is pretty much doomed because the meaning of words in everyday conversation can’t be controlled by a dictionary entry, no matter how many Ministry of Truth employees-

Orwell: It reports your location to the telephone company at all times?

you can’t disconnect words like “moron”, “idiot”, and “dumb” from their original meanings. they are ableist words. and continuing to use them in a derogatory fashion is ableist. 

calling someone a “moron” is comparing them to someone who is disabled, usually someone with an intellectual or learning disability. so if that’s used in a derogatory way, you are saying that the disabled person is worthless, or whatever other word you would use instead of “moron”. even if the person you’re directing the word to is abled themselves. 

comparing abled people to disabled people as a joke, or as a method of bullying is ableist. end of. 

And you can’t argue that the meaning has been confused over time. These words have always been ableist.

Moron meant someone who was intellectually disabled. This was a medical term. It’s root word means “foolish”.

Idiot was a medical term for some who was intellectually disabled. It’s root word means “ignorant”.

Dumb was a medical term for people who couldn’t speak. It’s root word means “stupid”.

These were always ableist. They are not misconstrued. They came from abled people making assumptions about disabled people.

Add “imbecile” and “cretin” to those ableist words too, they were also used to describe intellectually / developmentally disabled people.

Also, “smooth brained” is a gross insult because there is a condition called lissencephaly where someone’s brain comes out smooth instead of with folds and they’re often multiply disabled. People have said this word is intended to compare someone to a lesser evolved animal with a smooth brain, but I don’t buy it. It’s too close to the idea that intellectually / developmentally disabled people are “lesser evolved” and that’s crap.

It’s so easy to tell someone they should stop thinking with the shit in their rectum or tell them their behavior is bullshit without ableist insults if people make the effort to replace the language they use.

But ableism is so baked into our language. I’ve taken many steps to extract it from my own vernacular.

If you have to bring mental illness down to bring up physical disability, you are not an anti-ableism activist. 

If you have to bring physical disability down to bring up mental illness, you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If you have to bring one mental illness down to bring up another mental illness, you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If you have to bring one form of disability down to bring up another form of disability, you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If your way of bringing awareness to mental illness is to say, “Disabled people don’t know what it’s like to have real problems. They have is so easy!” you are not an anti-ableism activist. 

If your way of bringing awareness to disability is to say, “Mentally ill people don’t know what it’s like to have real problems. They have is so easy!” you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If you have to say, “People with x mental illness are so lucky. Everyone understands their illness and treats them with respect. They don’t know how hard ableism really is. They have it so easy!” in order to explain how y mental illness has it super hard, you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If you have to say, “People with x disability are so lucky. Everyone understands their disability and treats them with respect. They don’t know how hard ableism really is. They have it so easy!” in order to explain how y disability has it super hard, you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If you are only willing to fight for disabled people and/or mentally ill people who are white, cisgender, straight, perisex, thin, middle/upper class, etc., you are not an anti-ableism activist.

If you don’t listen to mentally ill and disabled people when they call out your ableism, you are not an anti-ableism activist.

Do not fight ableism with more ableism. That won’t solve anything. We all have to work together, no matter what conditions we might have, to combat the problem. Stop tearing each other down and start supporting and helping each other.

If you can’t do that, you are not an anti-ableism activist. 

you can’t disconnect words like “moron”, “idiot”, and “dumb” from their original meanings. they are ableist words. and continuing to use them in a derogatory fashion is ableist. 

calling someone a “moron” is comparing them to someone who is disabled, usually someone with an intellectual or learning disability. so if that’s used in a derogatory way, you are saying that the disabled person is worthless, or whatever other word you would use instead of “moron”. even if the person you’re directing the word to is abled themselves. 

comparing abled people to disabled people as a joke, or as a method of bullying is ableist. end of. 

And you can’t argue that the meaning has been confused over time. These words have always been ableist.

Moron meant someone who was intellectually disabled. This was a medical term. It’s root word means “foolish”.

Idiot was a medical term for some who was intellectually disabled. It’s root word means “ignorant”.

Dumb was a medical term for people who couldn’t speak. It’s root word means “stupid”.

These were always ableist. They are not misconstrued. They came from abled people making assumptions about disabled people.

Add “imbecile” and “cretin” to those ableist words too, they were also used to describe intellectually / developmentally disabled people.

Also, “smooth brained” is a gross insult because there is a condition called lissencephaly where someone’s brain comes out smooth instead of with folds and they’re often multiply disabled. People have said this word is intended to compare someone to a lesser evolved animal with a smooth brain, but I don’t buy it. It’s too close to the idea that intellectually / developmentally disabled people are “lesser evolved” and that’s crap.

It’s so easy to tell someone they should stop thinking with the shit in their rectum or tell them their behavior is bullshit without ableist insults if people make the effort to replace the language they use.

But ableism is so baked into our language. I’ve taken many steps to extract it from my own vernacular.

PSA from the actual coiner of “neurodivergent”

Yo. Many of you need to take an entire stadium of seats. Like a football arena in Texas number.

I coined neurodivergent before tumblr was even a thing, like a decade or more ago, because people were using ‘neurodiverse’ and ‘neurodiversity’ to just mean autistic, & possibly LDs. But there’s more, like way more, ways a person can have a different yet fucking perfect dammit brain.

Neurodivergent refers to neurologically divergent from typical. That’s ALL.

I am multiply neurodivergent: I’m Autistic, epileptic, have PTSD, have  cluster headaches, have a chiari malformation.

Neurodivergent just means a brain that diverges.

Autistic people. ADHD people. People with learning disabilities. Epileptic people. People with mental illnesses. People with MS or Parkinsons or apraxia or cerebral palsy or dyspraxia or no specific diagnosis but wonky lateralization or something. 

That is all it means. It is not another damn tool of exclusion. It is specifically a tool of inclusion. If you don’t want to be associated with Those People, then YOU are the one who needs another word. Neurodivergent is for all of us.

Annoyedly yours,

Neurodivergent K of Radical Neurodivergence Speaking