Quote:
Originally Posted by DiracSpike
I would never use your or anyone else's deafness as a reason to insult them or mistreat them. So I think I get what you're saying in that sense, but I guess I'm pushing back against a blanket ban on the word "deaf" in totality because it's a useful word to describe something. Like I can't acknowledge you or where you're coming with your own personal journey with deafness unless we can both use the word to communicate what specific affliction we're talking about. And that goes for mute, blind, lame, handicapped, anything. It seems to me we're in danger of banishing these words because they're old school, but they convey meaning of very real conditions that exist and people still need to deal with whether or not the old word gets used for them.
In the end I think we can agree with what someone else here said, crack down on losers who insult people for their conditions but don't blanket banish the words. Or something in that vein.
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I think you may have over-reacted, because a ban was never mentioned. I think the poster was making the point that a lot of labels have been used in a derogatory fashion, so that when possible, use the person’s name or acknowledge them as a person instead of identifying them solely as or by their disability.
I know I’ve done it and that’s as someone who has grown to hate being identified by one aspect of their identity/reality and should know better, so I don’t see it as a particularly controversial point. It was just a good reminder for people to think about.