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Lukewarm take: but replacing ableist vocab with other words that will become ableist in the future because you use them as synonyms (linguistics 101) is a failure. Rather, you must address the thought process that necessitates words which comment on intelligence/ability/mobility.
Thinking of calling someone cr*zy and replacing that with unhinged? It means the same thing. Instead examine why you need to comment on mental state at all. It& #39;s usually because you lack perspective and don& #39;t understand human behavior.
Thinking of calling someone st*pid and using fool or wild? They mean the same thing within the context of your thought process. Think about why intelligence as an identifier of virtue or validity is important to you. It& #39;s not the word that& #39;s ableist. It& #39;s how you think.
It& #39;s how you react to people on the fringe of what you deem normal and useful. Your reaction is fundamentally rooted in white supremacy and survival of the fittest rhetoric which is so inextricably wrapped up in neo-colonial anglo-national capitalism.
Often you use ableist words to insult the oppressive ruling class. Except they don& #39;t care what you call them. Instead you alienate your biggest disabled allies by using harmful thoughtless vocab. So you can have a tantrum online? Where is your strategy? Where& #39;s your credibility?
If your first instinct when reacting to abled oppressors is to insult ND and disabled people instead of addressing the systems that got you to where you are, then maybe you& #39;re not as progressive as you think you are. Maybe you& #39;ll never win because you& #39;re unwilling to be better.
Disabled people occupy few positions of power. They overwhelmingly live below the poverty line and are far more affected by bad policy than white abled cis ppl. Yet you drag them through the dirt so you can dismiss your role in allowing fascism to take root beneath your feet. No.
