On being screwed by language
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 11:08 pmThere's a discussion about a recent racial incident going on in a friend's journal. She's a nice liberal person, her friends seem to be nice liberal people, and they're starting from the sort of basis of anti-bigotry that I expect from my friends as well.
Then someone used the term "spaz". I politely asked them not to, explaining that it's a derogatory term deriving from an older word for people with cerebral palsy, "spastic". I was agressively told to stop sanctimoniously monitoring other people's language, and that the term didn't have the meaning I claimed any more.
I've just about stopped shaking, and I still feel rather sick. I didn't expect to come across this sort of attack in that environment, let alone to be told that I had no right to request that someone stopped using such an offensive term. I'm particularly distressed that someone who is capable of having an intelligent, sensitive discussion about the finer points of racism, someone who evidently means well, is perfectly happy to use disability as an insult and cannot see the problem.
So for the benefit of all those people who don't think there's anything wrong with the term "spaz", let's look at how it's defined. I'm using Urban Dictionary, which I reckon is a decent barometer of current slang usage. I'm picking out the ones which particularly strike me, but they're all derogatory and about 90% refer to some feature of disability.
( Definitions and a little ranting )
So yes. If someone uses language which indicates that they hold people with disabilities in contempt, I will be upset and I will be angry. If they silence me yet again and tell me that I have no right to complain, that I have no say in the language which defines me, I will be absolutely bloody furious.
Then someone used the term "spaz". I politely asked them not to, explaining that it's a derogatory term deriving from an older word for people with cerebral palsy, "spastic". I was agressively told to stop sanctimoniously monitoring other people's language, and that the term didn't have the meaning I claimed any more.
I've just about stopped shaking, and I still feel rather sick. I didn't expect to come across this sort of attack in that environment, let alone to be told that I had no right to request that someone stopped using such an offensive term. I'm particularly distressed that someone who is capable of having an intelligent, sensitive discussion about the finer points of racism, someone who evidently means well, is perfectly happy to use disability as an insult and cannot see the problem.
So for the benefit of all those people who don't think there's anything wrong with the term "spaz", let's look at how it's defined. I'm using Urban Dictionary, which I reckon is a decent barometer of current slang usage. I'm picking out the ones which particularly strike me, but they're all derogatory and about 90% refer to some feature of disability.
( Definitions and a little ranting )
So yes. If someone uses language which indicates that they hold people with disabilities in contempt, I will be upset and I will be angry. If they silence me yet again and tell me that I have no right to complain, that I have no say in the language which defines me, I will be absolutely bloody furious.
