• secret300@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 days ago

    Give it a few more years and then “mentally disabled” will be the new retarded. We’ll cringe at how people would say they’re “disabled”.

    I work with the mentally disabled and have for a while now. I love my guys but it’s so annoying seeing how new terms will come and go throughout the years constantly.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      6 days ago

      The Euphemism Treadmill might stop when the term is so clinically dry as “mentally disabled”. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue of a schoolyard bully the way “retarded” does. I dunno, we’ll see.

      • pyre@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        retarded doesn’t have any more negative meaning than disabled. it’s just about how we use it.

      • Wahots@pawb.social
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        6 days ago

        I’m pretty sure that “mentally retarded” was the medical term for many decades, before it became cultural lingo. There was something similar for erectile dysfunction too, they used to call you impotent, not exactly a great thing to hear at the doctor’s office.

      • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 days ago

        I thought they already changed it to differently abled. As dis-abled implies they can’t do something, when differently implies they can do things, yet they may just do it in another manner.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      6 days ago

      Culture evolves. I will say, some of the new terms drive me nuts because they technically mean the same thing, but are grammatically awkward or are otherwise clunky when conveying the same message.

      Like sure, I technically have a disability, please don’t try to frame it as a good thing or something to make it sound better. It just sounds condescending. I don’t need pity, I’m living my life to the fullest now :P