These Common Phrases Are Actually Inappropriate, so Stop Using Them.
We may not be aware of this, but many of the words and phrases we use throughout the day can humiliate others. Many of our idioms and common cliches of speech can be aptly described as eiblistic or discriminatory towards people with disabilities . Some of these phrases have become less common as more people learn about their problematic origins (for example, children today do not like the “r-word” as they did several decades ago), but we still use many of them. time.
Sixty-one million adults in the United States currently live with disabilities, according to the CDC . The sheer population of Americans with disabilities probably means you know someone who has one. (My brother, for example, has one leg.) We should strive to avoid speaking unintentionally or unintentionally. This confirms an unconscious bias and reinforces unnecessary divisions between people from different communities. To that end, here are a few common phrases and words that you should definitely brush out from your vocabulary, in the hope that they will eventually disappear completely from the vocabulary.
“This is so stupid.”
It’s easy to throw the word lame at someone or something that disappoints you. But the word is defined by Oxford Language Dictionaries as “(especially an animal) unable to walk without difficulty as a result of injury or illness affecting a leg or foot.” It’s offensive to use it to describe a person, but that’s how it was commonly used for years . So don’t use it today to signal your disappointment with the PS5 Best Buy sale.
“Don’t be such a bum.”
You can remember this from your days at the playground. Medically speaking, according to the National Institutes of Health , “spastic” is an outdated term associated with an individual’s uncontrolled physical movement, usually caused by spinal cord injury. In the UK, the word has become a common r-word in the US, and in the US. The word itself is a less crowded substitute for “clumsy”, but any use of it is inhuman towards those experiencing such a disease. So don’t use it to describe your dog’s strange behavior.
“This is madness / madness / madness.”
Calling someone crazy is fantastically dismissive given how unaware we are usually of other people’s problems. As we wrote earlier this year: “Most often this word is pulled out to describe women and is often used by men . If your friend or coworker is acting unpleasant or interfering with your behavior, find the exact way to talk to him about it. Don’t call them crazy. Also, don’t call them crazy. And don’t call this line “crazy” at Burger King.
Disordered, just in general
The word “crippled” historically describes a disability resulting from an accident, disability at birth, or other medical condition. You do not need to refer to a marginalized community to accurately describe another person (or thing, or system) that is experiencing a particular deficiency.
“He is suffering [indicate disease].”
You can assume that someone with a disability is “suffering” given that their life may be marked by circumstances other than your own. But people with disabilities aren’t as pessimistic about their lives as writer Erica Mons wrote for Pop Sugar earlier this year . “People often use the word ‘suffering’ to describe disability because they understand disability as a condition that causes only pain and suffering,” Mons wrote. “However, people with disabilities can live a fulfilling life like everyone else.” In short, don’t define someone by their disability; That is none of your business.
“Can’t you hear”
This is especially easy to avoid when speaking with great precision, since the inability to listen or the unwillingness to understand is not at all the same as the inability to hear at all. The person you are describing is not deaf, so it’s probably best not to compare his alienation to the million- dollar community in the United States .
“I spent the entire weekend cleaning and I have OCD.”
There are many other ways to describe someone’s legibility or a tendency to be neat and tidy without referring to this real-life personality disorder. To say that someone you know is “OCD” because they keep their desk more organized than yours is incredibly simplistic.
Describing a person as “confined to a wheelchair”
While this phrase is often used without the intent of offending, like “suffering” above, using this phrase to describe a person using a wheelchair ultimately leads to identifying the entire person as a disability rather than just being part of their life. It is nice to understand that there is much more in a person than his physical capabilities or limitations.
“You’re so crazy / maniac / psychotic.”
Typically, when someone is getting on your nerves or acting out of proportion to the situation, describing them in words that are often associated with marginalization and other neuro-atypical people is not the best option. Those words “[captured] them in a snap as this dangerous, unpredictable, other soul,” Christopher Lane, a professor at Northwestern University, told the BBC . People with mental health problems should not be ostracized, which is why you should avoid using overtly offensive words like “crazy” or “psycho” to describe them – let alone hurling them at your friends in the middle of a fight.