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(frozen comment) Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't want to bring it up on the thread and upset anyone and derail anything like an ass, and it's not something I want to run to the mod about to delete the prompt post, but "spazz" and "spazzing" are pretty offensive ableist terms. And i'm quite surprised to see it in a fandom with a strong awareness of crappy ableist behaviour.

I am disabled so I am personally offended, but it's like calling something bad "gay". A gay person doesn't have to hear it, for the term used in that way to be insulting or offensive. Please keep that in mind in future.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Honest question as someone who is not aware of a lot of the current discussions about political correctness (don't even know if that is the right term to use).
I am not anti-politically correct, and I do believe everyone should be respectful and mindful of others.
Words change their meanings through time and not everyone here is the same age. We all come from different backgrounds and experiences.
When does a word become 'not okay' because it might offend?
To me in my experience the word spaz has been used mostly to describe certain overblown excited behaviours- like seeing the new Stephen King book on the shelf or hopping with excitement to see starwars. Or getting unreasonably upset over something small and inconvenient.
It means losing control of physical or emotional reactions, which let's face it, we've all done from time to time.
When did it become a slur against disabled people?

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

DA

It's short for spastic, meaning having or relating to muscle spasms. In the UK both spastic and spaz have been used as pejoratives for persons with cerebral palsy. And even without that connotation, it's an ableist slur because it's trivializing a medical symptom.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Usage notes[edit]

Wikipedia has an article on:
Spastic
The offensiveness of this term and of spastic differs considerably between the US and the UK. In the United States, the terms are inoffensive; in the UK, they are very offensive; see spastic for more.[1][2][3]

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Context context context.
I get it. Thank you. :)

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Huh, spazz/spazzing has always had an emotional connotation for me. (American.) In my experience, if someone's said to be spazzing, a response would be to chill out / calm down. A muscle or physical implication would be secondary, if it's implied at all.

Eh, you learn something new everyday.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

I think it depends on what country you're from? The word "spazz" would be on the same level as calling someone a "dork" from my pov. Slightly insulting but not remotely offensive.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

SA

This reminds me a lot of the word "retard" tho. I think in the US it's still considered okay to use it, even amongst medical professionals, but in other countries it's a really offensive word to use.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

'retard' is definitely considered derogatory in the US too

maybe not as extremely in some places but I wouldn't use it and I'd be taken aback by anyone who did

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

By pretty much all of the developmentally disabled/intellectually disabled community, it is absolutely not okay to say or use r*tard, and there have been huge (and in many places very successful) campaigns to stop everyone from using it, because it is such a dehumanizing slur. Some neurotypical/ableist people still use, mind you, but in a lot of greater social contexts (newspapers etc) it is considered extremely did-you-just-fucking-say-that taken-aback offensive.

(Apologies if I come off as angry--I mean more to be educational, because as a mentally disabled person from the US, it's kind of an important issue to me).

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

No, 'retard' is really offensive in the U.S. as well, and is definitely not used by medical professionals (except perhaps in its verb form, ie 'to retard the growth').

This doesn't mean people don't say it, but it's definitely a slur with negative implications.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

OP
I'm from the UK. And, I'm sorry, but I think if you asked disabled people in America if they found it offensive, they'd agree with me. It's often a common conversation topic on twitter if you'd like to look it up.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

DA. Question, did the term only become 'offensive' to Americans due to cross cultural communication? I've always used spaz, I don't found it offense. It's like the word wanker to me. It's kind of meaningless.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly, I agree.

I understand that people might not be willing to change the way they use their language if they haven't seen a problem with it before. However, I think it's also important to keep in mind that just because you personally haven't heard the word in a discriminatory context doesn't mean that it's not used that way. It's also important to remember that even if you don't intend offence, words can still hurt people.

Some of the responses here are worrying because it seems like we're saying "Well, I'm not offended, and no one else I know is offended, so it's okay." That's the same reasoning that people have used to defend the usage of a lot of other slurs.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Context is every thing though and feelings being hurt incidentally is hardly a real issue

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Well, what kind of contexts would make slurs like this okay to use? And is "hurt feelings" really all that's happening, or is it actually coming from a long (and ongoing) history of ableism?

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

"feelings being hurt ... is hardly a real issue." Wow. Okay.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

To me it's more of a "Huh, isn't it strange how random mouth sounds can be so offensive to someone and be meaningless to someone else."

Like, it'd be like if someone randomly started insisting that "apple" was offensive. I'm kind of baffled.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Do you feel the same about racial slurs?

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

You could say the same about basically any human societal thing. Like huh, isn't money such a fascinating weird arbitrary thing we use? Doesn't mean it doesn't have a huge impact on people's lives. I understand the kind of detached philosophical standpoint here but it's not as trivial as you're making it out to be.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Especially since very few of the responses have indicated whether the poster is able-bodied/neurotypical/etc
That's also some helpful context

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I think because the meme is a place where we have people from multiple countries, we should not use the word 'spaz' here. It's just respectful.

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

NA Good of you to bring that to the table, anon. In most parts of America that word doesn't have the same connotations so when I learned this several years ago it was personally kind of shocking that something pretty tame in the US was awful in the UK.

I hope that it does make you feel a bit better at least that most people from America have no idea and would feel guilty knowing they used a slur had they known :P

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

It would if people were really horrified but, well, most of the time it gets brushed off or turned into a linguistics argument. Most people don't even realise it offends disabled people in their own country just as much as it does over here in the UK.

But thank you

(frozen comment) Re: Um. Ableism?

[(Anonymous)]

How about we just use the term "Glitchy". Like a software error?


That's not offensive?