Thread by @Cal__Montgomery, This term is based on an old term for people with intellectual [...]

This term is based on an old term for people with intellectual disabilities (ID), and it perpetuates the bias that people with ID inherently cannot be trusted to make good choices because they aren't "intelligent" and/or make immoral choices. The @nytimes should do better. https://twitter.com/NYT_first_said/status/1330640270430527488

https://twitter.com/NYT_first_said/status/1330640270430527488

About 100 years ago, terms like "idiot," "imbecile," and "moron" were used to differentiate between different classes of the "feeble minded," based on the now-discredited idea of "mental age."

https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/four/4e/gunnar-mental-age.html

Feeble mindedness was a catch all for people regarded as less than hereditarily desirable, from poor people to people of color to petty criminals to (certain) immigrants -- and also to people considered immoral because they had sex (or were raped). https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-sinister-history-of-the-word-moron-explained/amp

The Origins of the Word "Moron" Are Actually REALLY Sinister | Teen Vogue

It's much more than just a casual insult.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/the-sinister-history-of-the-word-moron-explained/amp

And even today the legacy of these ideas are used to deny people fundamental rights. http://nosmag.org/mental-age-theory-hurts-people-with-intellectual-disabilities/

Mental Age Theory Hurts People with Intellectual Disabilities

Have you ever heard the phrase “that person has the mind of a five year old In an adult body?” It is something many adults with intellectual disabilities, like me, have to deal with. Fo…

http://nosmag.org/mental-age-theory-hurts-people-with-intellectual-disabilities/

In fact, Buck v. Bell, the U.S. Supreme Court case which established that the government may forcibly sterilize people identified as feeble minded, has never been overturned.

https://richmond.com/discover-richmond/mad-science-carrie-buck-and-virginias-era-of-eugenics/article_0541bd0e-ca9f-5ea8-949c-2629458fb920.amp.html+

Today we still live with this legacy. Children with intellectual and other cognitive disabilities are shunted into substandard and segregated education. https://allmeansall.org.au/research/

Inclusive Education - What Does the Research Say? - Australian Alliance for Inclusive Education

Introduction For over 40 years, the body of relevant research into education of students with disability has overwhelmingly established inclusive education as producing superior social and academic...

https://allmeansall.org.au/research/

Although we are making real progress and may end the 14(c) program soon, adults with ID are still routinely shunted into vocational and "pre"-vocational programs where they earn pennies an hour for work they are required to do.

http://www.vox.com/platform/amp/identities/2020/3/16/21178197/people-with-disabilities-minimum-wage

People don't get to live where they would choose to. http://thearc.org/theres-no-place-like-home

There's No Place Like Home: The Arc Releases A National Study on Disability Housing - The Arc

Washington, D.C. – As people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families age, one question often takes center stage: Where will I or my family member live in the...

http://thearc.org/theres-no-place-like-home

And they are even at high risk of losing the rights other people take for granted. http://www.thenation.com/article/society/britney/

Free Comrade Britney!

Britney Spears called for the redistribution of wealth—but she’s not even allowed to give away her own money.

http://www.thenation.com/article/society/britney/

Meanwhile, people with intellectual disabilities face some of the highest COVID risks. http://Www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/health/covid-developmental-disabilities.amp.html

Developmental Disabilities Heighten Risk of Covid Death

People with intellectual disabilities and developmental disorders are three times more likely to die of Covid-19, compared with patients without the conditions, a new analysis found.

http://Www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/health/covid-developmental-disabilities.amp.html

The risk is even higher when we consider (see "There's No Place Like Home," above) that people with intellectual disabilities are likely to be forced into congregate care to get needed services. http://montgomerycal.wordpress.com/2020/07/09/why-we-need-to-get-people-out-of-congregate-care

Why We Need to Get People Out of Congregate Care

There is a highly successful program called Money Follows the Person, which helps transition people from large institutions to home and community-based settings. The multiyear authorization expired…

http://montgomerycal.wordpress.com/2020/07/09/why-we-need-to-get-people-out-of-congregate-care

It gets worse than that. Accessible information for people with intellectual disabilities -- plain language and easy read, for instance, social stories, etc. -- is possible, but lacking.

Most augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices don't offer pandemic vocab.

So here we have a population that has historically been segregated, abused, and neglected in state facilities on the grounds that they are defective and bad people.

http://Www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=1681&page=all

They have been forced to work for little or no wage on the colony farms and in the sheltered workshops. They have been denied the education and the information, the resources and the freedom to distance, all by our society. It's all tangled up with ablism, racism, and classism.

And this is who many people, including now the @nytimes, chooses to target with the term "covidiot."

This is blaming the victim. And being witty in your use of slurs doesn't make it better.

You can follow @Cal__Montgomery.

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