Quote:
Originally Posted by nfotiu
Are any modern mentally disabled people labeled with the R word anymore? It seems that disappeared at least 30 years ago, and is now probably a harmless insult.
I've noticed the teenage circles have moved on to autistic as the replacement insult, which is likely much more hurtful to others. I put an effort into trying to quash that and homophobic slurs with my kids, but I'm inclined to let the R word go, just because I don't think it is hurting anyone anymore.
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Yeah, my kids and their friends all use it, too (the r-word, that is). We even have an expression in my house: DBR (don't be ######ed). Credit where it's due, my wife came up with that acronym. She really likes acronyms and they factor heavily into the humour profile I'm building on her, but I digress.
I would never let my kids use autistic as a desperaging remark because it's a contemporary word that describes people on a spectrum and I would not tolerate suggesting autistic people are lesser-thans. I don't think they would use it, anyway. Along with their peers, they're a very tolerant and sensitive bunch.
The r-word, conversely, hasn't been used as a medical term since before they were born. It's no different than calling someone an idiot or a moron now, which were both once words used to describe mentally disabled people.
I also dispute that ######ed was used for only people with Downs syndrome as had been suggested either here or maybe in the other thread where this conversation started. I think that when it was used decades ago, it was an umbrella term for all people with severe mental disabilities.
I had retired the r-word from my vernacular for a while, but over the past year or so I've been using it again and I do enjoy the word and there just isn't a viable replacement.
I did get called out by someone last year for saying 'that's crazy' about something they were telling me and apparently that was offensive? ok
I think The Black Eyes Peas may have summed up using the r-word best in this lyric: 'In this context, there's no disrespect....let's get ######ed.'