Types of Ableist Language and What to Say Instead
www.verywellmind.com
Unknowingly, most of us say many ableist things regularly. Here's a guide to help you be aware of those words and what you can say instead.

We already do this with some slurs, right? We can start enforcing these words, too.

Not calling anyone out, I’ve been guilty of it too. And we don’t have to do it all at once. Like, we can start with these:

Ableist words and alternatives.

Stupid, R€tarded, Idiot(ic), Cretin, or Moron(ic): People say this to imply something, or someone isn't intelligent or worth their time, but the words refer to people with intellectual disabilities. Instead, say that a situation or person is frustrating, ignorant, dense, unpleasant, cheesy, or awful.

Dumb: This word refers to a person who doesn't speak verbally, but people often use it to mean that something or someone isn't intelligent or wise. It's listed separately from stupid and its synonyms because it references a physical disability instead of an intellectual one. Try using any of the non-ableist synonyms like irritating or uncool.

Crazy, Nuts, Mad, Psycho, or Insane: "Wow, that's crazy!" may not seem like a harmful statement, but if you think about someone with a mental health condition hearing that statement, it's easy to realize that it is. So instead of using one of those words, try outrageous, bananas, bizarre, amazing, intense, extreme, overwhelming, or wild.

  • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The "r-word" is already banned, as it's basically the only one of those that hasn't completely lost any connection to their original meaning.

    So no imo.

      • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Hasan who? The streamer guy? I don't see how whatever he does would be relevant, as far as I know he doesn't have an account here.

        And the slur related to schizophrenia wasn't even mentioned in the op btw, but okay.

          • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I've been here from the very beginning, and I genuinely can not remember seeing anyone having a negative reaction to the usage of extremely common words like moron, idiot, dumb, stupid, etc.

            And it's not as though the average user has much problems with loudly voicing their opinions on here (our endless struggle sessions are pretty clear evidence of this lol), so I'm just unconvinced that this is a real issue that needs adressing

            • WoofWoof91 [comrade/them]
              ·
              2 years ago

              there was one early on
              sticks out to me because "lame" got banned but not only was it barely enforced, sitemods and admins would say it publically lmao

            • CanYouFeelItMrKrabs [any, he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              And on this site specifically a word like stupid is usually used for people whom one would say much worse things about. Like capitalists or Americans or whatever

              • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                Exactly, I don't think anyone on here would see someting like "Meatball Ron is a moron" as ableist for instance.

                To me this seems like an attempt to create an issue that's never been an actual issue.

            • spectre [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              I genuinely can not remember seeing anyone having a negative reaction to the usage of extremely common words like moron, idiot, dumb, stupid, etc.

              I know there's been at least one post just like this one before.

            • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]
              ·
              2 years ago

              I’ve been here from the very beginning, and I genuinely can not remember seeing anyone having a negative reaction to the usage of extremely common words like moron, idiot, dumb, stupid, etc.

              maybe the people who do leave silently rather than complaining but i also don't think they exist so :shrug-outta-hecks:

              • Ram_The_Manparts [he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                I've been struggling with anxiety and depression since I was in elementary school, so I'd appreciate if you could kindly fuck off with your assumption that the only reason I could possibly disagree with you is that I've never experienced ableism myself and that I've lived a life free from any hardship.

              • GarbageShoot [he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                My god, this is even more unreasonable than if you said the phrase "poor choice of words" was classist. What fraction of a percentage of the population even knows that anyone ever used the term "moron" this way? I happened to know from a high school class, but when we are making an accusation of bigotry we can't just free-associate feelings, we need to investigate the actual philology, which requires doing things other than introspection.

                As an easy example, "lame" is totally used in an ableist way and you can see these connotations in how people use it constantly, even if referring to an actual disabled person this way would seem a little old-timey (along with being quite rude). The only difference between "moron" and "doofus" is that "moron" has a harsher implication, but there's no further insinuation because they have very non-specific meanings in modern English. "Dolt" is about equivalent to "moron" and has no such history from what I can tell.

                If you want to make the case that it's really any word that means "unintelligent" or some equivalent is ableist, you have a case there, but then actually make that argument.

                • MoreAmphibians [none/use name]
                  ·
                  2 years ago

                  “poor choice of words” was classist

                  You know I wonder how much embedded classism there is in the English language. Another example is "villain" comes from the word "villager". I think this sort of language policing is very dumb but I would be fascinated to read about this sort of research in historical terms.

              • robot_dog_with_gun [they/them]
                ·
                2 years ago

                sanist/mentalist biases

                uhhh you're skipping a shitload of work if you want to say it's value neutral to have people run around completely disconnected from reality. At a minimum we need to protect them from traffic and marketing...