Ouch! Talkpermalink
Bad language
-
www.independent.co.u...
Article from today's Independent about the common use of disablist language. Apologies for getting in there first if you also planned to post it Lisy. -
Thanks for linking this, it is something that geta mentioned fairly often, and i thought it was good to see it brough up by a major newspaper.
very disgusted and disappointed with some of the commenst... but not sure why i'm suprised!This is a reply to this message.
-
Sadly, I'm not surprised by some of the comments. Apparently we're all "hypersensitive" for reacting badly to abuse...
This is a reply to this message.
-
very interesting article, but not at all suprising
the other day i got on bus and it was almost 1 hour late, when i had tried to get my meds that all went wrong.
a man said out loud "it doesn't matter to you, does it? you have all day"
It made me feel very small and worthless. If i had more courage to not break out in anger i wud have said "i wud rather it mattered and have my health anyday"
that is on wednesday. It is now friday. I spent all day thursday inside and friday i saw my friend and we sat in a quiet corner.
and its not just the "retard" words, its all the other stuff that isn't a crime, but is twice as bad. Its the looks, the way people treat u, the condescending tones, the obnoxious behaviours, the cons etc
and as for the line in the aritcle, that most people regard disabled people as inferior, how is this even suprising to the writer.
If you went to a shop to buy a television say, and one was scratched, flickery image, wobbly stand etc, would you get it for the same amount of money as an identical model that was in good order?
No, coz its inferior quality
i know some say u can't say that of humans, but i can, and i have.
its totally true, its pointless trying to pretend not.
disabled = less abled = not as perfect = less good = inferiour
i can't understand how anyone gets suprised by this assumption
i said before about apples and i say agian
nobody wud knowingly buy a poorly apple when lots next to it are not poorly.
so i sumarise
please dont be horrible to me for being disabled, and i accept i am inferiour, but please dont bully me about it.This is a reply to this message.
-
I'm not surprised either. I've met these sort of people in real life on too many occasions.
Once in a pub in London someone loudly called me 'Pegleg' when I went past on my way to the toilet. I confronted him on the way back, which I think took him by surprise.
All he kept saying was: "At least I'm not being politically correct,'' as if that made everything alright. That was his entire justification for it. And losers like that think they're superior to us...This is a reply to this message.
-
"please dont be horrible to me for being disabled, and i accept i am inferiour, but please dont bully me about it."
Try and think of it another way Rob. The 'people' who taunt and insult you are to a man (and woman) absolutely terrified of becoming disabled themselves. They're trying to hide their fear and their own inferiority complexes by having a go at those who cope with what would be their worst nightmare.
They're cowards basically. That's all.This is a reply to this message.
-
Rob
You're NOT inferior. If you say you are, then you give people implicit permission to bully you.This is a reply to this message.
-
i dont say to anyone but with anomity on this board i say it coz i know i am.
If i was equal, I would have equal treatment.
I can tell by the comments on that article that there is a very clear division
its between those who have disability / close relative VS those who dont
they all think its PC BS, sensitivity gone mad and moan how they are not in 'special group' and that because someone called them idiot, that word should be banned as well just to make a mock of it all, and that how the disabled get more benefits than the able bodied who then also fund them.
If i was not inferiour, when i ring up a oncall doctor i wud not be threatend with court action for wasting time, and people wud not throw change into my hand that results inevitably a coin dropping.
i wud love to believe i am not inferiour, but i can't believe this. Even thinking about it makes me full of self doubt.
everything the majority of people have ever told/done to me is that i am less than equal. I have my talents, but this is not the same as being treated equal.
I dont want special treatment from anyone, just equal, a pleasent polite attitude from staff. I dont expect anything from strangers, just if a person works in a service sector or on customer side of a company, them to be reasonable.
I dont need them to roll out red carpet, just not look at me like i am piece of crap.
i am inferior and people take advantage of it because people are evil.
most uk people believe it according to that survery, and i think so too. If i wasn't inferior i wudn't be on meds, waiting list and getting incapThis is a reply to this message.
-
Posted by STRANGELY STRANGE ( A brain on a spring ) (U2496023) on Friday, 6th November 2009 permalink
I saw a shop T Shirt with a photo of Britney Spears after shaving her head and clearly distressed and in Bipolar meltdown, with -American Phycho- written underneath, which is pretty sick
This is a reply to this message.
-
Rob please dont mistake the ways people treat you as a true reflection of your " worth " try to se their treatment of you as at the least a sign of a problem in them, be it just plain ignorance or just fear and thus "hate/dislike /uneasiness " because you are different.
If a gay person or a member of one of the non indiginous british communities is treated badly because of their " difference ", does that mean they are inferior ? NO it means that someone "says" they are, nothing more / nothing less , what people say and believe to be true isnt neccessarily so.This is a reply to this message.
-
Despite this, there is so little interaction with disabled people that a recent survey by Scope discovered a majority of Britons believe most people see them as inferior people.
You have to be careful of the wording in the question that Scope asked...
Do you think "MOST PEOPLE THINK" etc.
Yes, I do! I agree that most Brits are prejudiced and immoral, but I don't think that we're worth-less myself.
I also don't think that the journalist was all that surprised, he seemed more resigned to the state of society
This is a reply to this message.
-
If i was equal, I would have equal treatment.
Ah surely if you had equal treatment you would be equal?
Interesting article but the writer seem unclear himself about language.
The "hypersensitive" misses the point and fails to see the very same arguments used against other groups as they sought equality. It isn't just about the words it is about the useage nobody really thinks somone calling somone RETARD really intends to call them slow release! IT is intended to be insulting to the person being called it.
We need to keep reminding the world that at the same time and place when to be asked if you were a Jew could lead to a death sentence so could being deaf, blind or "retarded".
TinThis is a reply to this message.
-
I have impairments. I'm not inferior. I'm just different. Some bits of my mind and my body don't work in an average way, but some bits do.
The way people use words makes a difference.This is a reply to this message.
-
There is how we think/know we are inside, and how people around us treat us. These two can be very different.
Why assume that those around us are right?
There are all sorts of reasons why people say horrible things.
Often they are feeling inferior to you, know that they have less talent than you, are fatter than you, have worse dress-sense than you and so on.
So they belittle you, and bully you to make themselves feel good. At work they tread on your face to get themselves higher. They try to put you out of business because they are scared that you will take away their clients. If they can make you behave differently then they make themselves feel better about themselves.
It is nothing to do with you personally, it is to do with the other person. They have problems and they are using anyone they find to make themselves look bigger.
Every time someone says something not nice to you think - did you have a row with your wife this morning then?
This is a reply to this message.
-
Hiya,
Singers, actors, actresses, entertainers, in fact anyone that kids / people look to as funny or as rolemodels must be educated about disability.
People coppy their coments and outbursts and life - styles, these people are possibly the answer that is needed. ???
Who knows ?
TraceyThis is a reply to this message.
-
neonpuppy,
Can I add footballers to your list.
And here is a quote from the C&A thread on quotes that says it better than I did above:
"Never allow anyone to rain on your parade and thus cast a pall of gloom and defeat on the entire day. Remember that no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character, are required to set up in the fault-finding business. Nothing external can have any power over you unless you permit it. Your time is too precious to be sacrificed in wasted days combating the menial forces of hate, jealousy, and envy. Guard your fragile life carefully. Only God can shape a flower, but any foolish child can tear it to pieces."
Og MandinoThis is a reply to this message.
-
Hiya auntie CtheM,
Good post.
Footballers, massive rollmodels.This is a reply to this message.
-
One thing that nobody has mentioned is competition. The real world is very competitive. In certain areas everyone is trying to outdo everyone else. In commerce it's an accepted thing that dogs eats dog and the devil takes the last one!
So a lot of people do build themselves up into thinking a lot of themselves and not much of everyone else. When the everyone else are also disabled that puts them several notches down the status ladder. Like it or not people with high status tend to look down on everyone else anyway. You will never legislate for that.
I must say I have come across some astonishing instances of arrogance that took my breath away. Afterwards of course you can think of all sorts of clever things to say and do but at the time one's flabber is so totally gasted that words fail to come forth.
So I think there is always going to be the problem of double standards. People who are nice and warm towards disabled people as long as they represent no competition. As soon as we try to compete it's at the back of their mind that we are inferior. You can feel it even if they don't say it. That's when problems arise. I think it's subconscious but it's there all the same.
I don't think that controlling the language controls people's thoughts. This is in fact a Communist principle whereby the idea is that you can banish words from the language and that will clean up people's attitudes. It doesn't work, it leads to double-speak. Thinking one thing and saying another. That didn't help the Commies and it's not going to help us, either.This is a reply to this message.
-
This link might be of interest - Herts police recognising that they must improve with regard to disabled people. I find it a little disturbing that the author feels it necessary to capitalise the D of "disabled". It implies different treatment which, in itself, could be seen as patronising. Dunno about you folks, but I think being looked down upon is as mich a crime as calling me a crip.
Anyway, the link...
www.herts.police.uk/...
Cheers
DarrenThis is a reply to this message.
-
I always capitalise the D in Disabled, as a political statement - as in "I have been rendered Disabled by being excluded from full participation in society".
And Herts Plods specialise in parking in Disabled bays at Tesco.This is a reply to this message.
Live community panel
Vote
Vote
© MMIX