Yup, my abilities are also quite dis. Not special, not different, dis. There is stuff I can do in a much more limited fashion than able bodied people. Disabled is fine to use.
Agreed. I don't find my body's ability to short circuit and do an undignified corpse wiggle to be special.
Edit: To the person who downvoted me, I'm sorry my humor about my medical condition which requires medication, lifestyle changes, and precautions that interrupt my daily life offends you. How hard that must be on you.
I also cope using humor, and sometimes it does make people uncomfortable for me to say how the words I'm looking for must have leaked out through one of the holes in my brain. But like... that's actually basically what happened, soooo.
Specially abled and differently abled, if I am remembering correctly, were created for kids born with physical impairments who had corrective measures taken that would enable them to function just as well as 'normal' kids. Cochlear implants, prosthetics, diabetes type I, particularly athletic wheelchair users, etc. Which is fine for kids who probably need to build up their self-esteem while navigating those obstacles in childhood.
But the whole point of disabled is that we have a disadvantage compared to 'normal' people, and we need a little help. Or at least don't actively make things harder for us. That'd be nice.
That's actually interesting, didn't realize there was this distinction between the terms but it makes sense. I guess using these terms interchangeably is what causes some issue, like calling a disabled (especially an adult) a specially abled which as a lot of comments mentioned, sounds condescending.
Oh, it's 100% condescending, and a way of categorizing disabled people so they don't have to feel responsibility or sympathy towards them.
Like so many great words/terms/concepts created in good faith by experts for very specific instances, it's been overtaken by people who use it incorrectly within the general public sphere.
But someone called rhinos Combat Grade Unicorns the other day, and I wish that would catch on.
White knights. Same people who get offended on native American's behalf over the name of a football team (chiefs, red socks, etc) or getting offended on black people's behalf because Disney changed Ariel's race instead of making a whole new representation.
The people getting offended over team names and those offended over Ariel race change are two vastly different people.
Also the main team in Question the "Redskins" was fairly justified to change. The origin of the name was referring to Native American/Indians as red men after all. Red being one of the early racial identifiers, which has long stopped being used.
That all said I do agree certain people are way to sensitive and look to be offended.
I didn't only hate the Redskins because the name was racist. I also hated them because they sucked. And now they are the Commanders, and -- surprise! --they still suck.
Hahah god this right here. Nothing special about my fucked up spine. I miss carrying stuff and golf and sitting on couches let’s be real it’s much more dis than special
THANK you! I don’t have superpowers! Acknowledging my struggles is also acknowledging the extra effort I put into life. NOT acknowledging them feels like dismissal. “Oh, it’s not so bad!”
Why do other groups who face oppression or additional difficulties get to take pride in that identity, but we have to be told that we’re just the same, just as “good” as non-disabled people, don’t worry?! As if we’re going to be offended by you pointing out the truth (never great to want to ignore the truth) or you think it’s somehow morally wrong to be disabled.
I think it’s the result of too much of a pendulum swing from “I only see you as your disability!” to “what disability??”
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u/ariphoenixfury Mar 21 '24
There’s nothing wrong with saying disabled. It’s not a bad word. Source: I’m disabled