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

      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...