#punchupnotdown — Public Fediverse posts

Just encountered another specimen of the “old white German man who thinks his vocabulary is a constitutional right” variety.

He was using “disabled” as an insult. Not accidentally. Not metaphorically in some obscure linguistic sense. Deliberately, to describe people he considers stupid, irrational, or “not quite right in the head.”

And when challenged?

Apparently, “disabled” is simply a synonym for people who "aren't quite clear in the head" (his words, not mine).

What a fascinating little piece of linguistic archaeology. Somewhere between 1950s institutionalisation and the village pub, apparently.

No, darling.

Disabled people are not a metaphor for stupidity. They are not a convenient category of human beings whose existence gives you a handy vocabulary for calling someone an idiot. And your personal decision to use an ableist slur does not magically turn it into a neutral dictionary definition.

Then, naturally, came the wounded dignity:

We should stop criticising him. We're annoying him.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Were we interrupting your little linguistic tradition of punching down?

How terribly inconvenient that the people you are casually degrading have developed the audacity to answer back.

This is the part where I am apparently supposed to be polite and explain, very gently, that perhaps we shouldn't use language that treats disabled people as synonymous with being defective.

No.

Fuck that.

If your vocabulary depends on treating an entire group of people as shorthand for “stupid,” your vocabulary is the thing that needs fixing.

And if being told that makes you uncomfortable, perhaps sit with that discomfort for a while.

It won't hurt you.

Being treated as though your feelings matter more than the dignity of the people you just insulted, however, might be a habit worth breaking.

We are not going to make ourselves smaller so you can remain comfortable in your prejudices.

You can update your language.

You can apologise.

Or you can continue being offended that the twenty-first century has arrived without asking your permission.

But please don't mistake our refusal to shut up for rudeness.

It is accountability.

And yes, we will keep "annoying" you.

Apparently someone has to.

#Ableism #DisabilityRights #StopAbleism #DisabledPeople #LanguageMatters #Accessibility #Inclusion #Dignity #PunchUpNotDown

Just encountered another specimen of the “old white German man who thinks his vocabulary is a constitutional right” variety.

He was using “disabled” as an insult. Not accidentally. Not metaphorically in some obscure linguistic sense. Deliberately, to describe people he considers stupid, irrational, or “not quite right in the head.”

And when challenged?

Apparently, “disabled” is simply a synonym for people who "aren't quite clear in the head" (his words, not mine).

What a fascinating little piece of linguistic archaeology. Somewhere between 1950s institutionalisation and the village pub, apparently.

No, darling.

Disabled people are not a metaphor for stupidity. They are not a convenient category of human beings whose existence gives you a handy vocabulary for calling someone an idiot. And your personal decision to use an ableist slur does not magically turn it into a neutral dictionary definition.

Then, naturally, came the wounded dignity:

We should stop criticising him. We're annoying him.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Were we interrupting your little linguistic tradition of punching down?

How terribly inconvenient that the people you are casually degrading have developed the audacity to answer back.

This is the part where I am apparently supposed to be polite and explain, very gently, that perhaps we shouldn't use language that treats disabled people as synonymous with being defective.

No.

Fuck that.

If your vocabulary depends on treating an entire group of people as shorthand for “stupid,” your vocabulary is the thing that needs fixing.

And if being told that makes you uncomfortable, perhaps sit with that discomfort for a while.

It won't hurt you.

Being treated as though your feelings matter more than the dignity of the people you just insulted, however, might be a habit worth breaking.

We are not going to make ourselves smaller so you can remain comfortable in your prejudices.

You can update your language.

You can apologise.

Or you can continue being offended that the twenty-first century has arrived without asking your permission.

But please don't mistake our refusal to shut up for rudeness.

It is accountability.

And yes, we will keep "annoying" you.

Apparently someone has to.

#Ableism #DisabilityRights #StopAbleism #DisabledPeople #LanguageMatters #Accessibility #Inclusion #Dignity #PunchUpNotDown