Or we could stop thinking that having disabilities something worthy of insult. I mean this is simple to say hard to do. It's a nice first step to just listen to what a large number of people and their families have asked for quite vocally.
That's exactly what I just said. I said "Until you correct that attitude...".
My point was that it's fine to eradicate "retard" as an insult and try to police speech, but until you correct the underlying problem that people with disabilities are looked down upon, whatever new term you come up with ("different-abled", for example) will eventually become an insult. Then you'll need a new term. Then THAT will become an insult.
So, as I said, you have to change the attitude underneath the speech. The speech itself is dynamic and ever-changing, so if you only focus on correcting speech, you will never catch up.
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Date: 11/8/11 17:20 (UTC)That's exactly what I just said. I said "Until you correct that attitude...".
My point was that it's fine to eradicate "retard" as an insult and try to police speech, but until you correct the underlying problem that people with disabilities are looked down upon, whatever new term you come up with ("different-abled", for example) will eventually become an insult. Then you'll need a new term. Then THAT will become an insult.
So, as I said, you have to change the attitude underneath the speech. The speech itself is dynamic and ever-changing, so if you only focus on correcting speech, you will never catch up.