When I'm done working for the day, either because it really is all done or because I just can't focus anymore, I often go on AOL and chat in a chatroom these days. I usually visit just the same room I have been frequenting since September of 2002. I do not like change :)
Well, autism became a discussion in there and some really not nice people commented on one mom's son who was autistic. This not nice person said it was the mother's fault her son has autism. Really? In 2010, there are still ignorant folks out there that believe this?
On another night, someone mentioned something was "retarded." A woman in the room happens to work with special needs children as an educator. She was offended by the use of the word since it was used in a derogatory manner, much like how the word "gay" is used by male boys these days. My Thom's friends often say "Dude? You like Yugi-oh? That is so gay!"
Well, on yet another night... someone said in the room to someone else whose sentence wasn't exactly coherant... "What are you? Autistic? hahahahahaha" Much in the same vein as the previous examples, no?
I also read my tweets on twitter and sometimes do a topic search. I searched for posts containing the word "autistic" as a means of finding new person to follow on there. And there was a lot of posts with people using the term "autistic" as a means of an insult.
So... has it now become the newest way to insult someone's intelligence? How did that happen? Most people with autism (even those with low functioning autism (LFA)) are highly intelligent. Just how did this happen?
Was it because the awareness of autism has increased with celebrity spokespersons and high profile "charity" organizations putting out the "good word" about autism? So that the term "autistic" has become mainstream enough for it to turn into an insult? If that is the case, then something has gone horribly, horribly wrong!
What is your opinion on this new trend? How do you think it got started? Are you not offended by this? Do you think I'm just too sensitive? Let me know!
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Comments (17)
People misuse words all the time. I've discovered that it is pretty much pointless to attempt to correct the misuse of any word by a person who is ignorant enough to need to insult people. They're not worth my time. It is different if someone is simply misinformed about the nature of something and uses it in the wrong context... even if it does come off as an insult... but people who purposefully insult others are acting rather stupidly, and are unlikely to respond positively to being corrected.
As Forest Gump's mother would say, "Stupid is as stupid does." :)
No you are not oversensitive. I do the same search and have found the term "autistic"also used as an insult. The sad thing is that it can be highly intelligent people using the term in a derogatory manner. I used to follow an organization that tracked anti-semitism on the web. The director used the term in a derogatory manner and I called him on it. Instead of apologizing he blocked me. Sometimes people are just sad excuses for human beings.
Any word referring to a minority of any kind, particularly one that's disadvantaged in some way, can & will be used as an insult by the pitifully insecure - no-one with a healthy self-esteem needs to disparage others in this stupid & profoundly offensive way.
Someone I regarded as a friend told me a joke recently that mocked people with a particular mental illness, & sneered at me for not "getting" it when I responded with a stony silence. I lost my temper and told him exactly what I thought of his idea of humor, & we've avoided each other ever since.
The "friend" was right about one thing, though - I DON'T "get" what's funny about that.
It has to be my WORST pet peeve when people with a mental handicap are insulted.
It is NOT clever. You're not oversensitive; and if that were the case, any person with a conscience is, too. I have a sister with a mental handicap - not autism, but her handicap has never been clarified by a doctor... and she's been to many - and I think that may be why I'm sensitive to the topic. Everybody has a reason.That's despicable.I also don't understand the 'gay' insult. I don't use it, I think it would feel wrong coming out of my mouth if I did...
God knows how much of that I dealt with back in my own days. "Dude, you like that gay-ass Digimon shit?" "HAHA AJ'S GAY, HE WATCHES DBZ" or whatever.
Friggin' kids.
It's too bad they can't hear just how clear I can speak, really... I mean, when you look at the mildest forms of Autism (such as Asperger's Syndrome/ASD like myself) I actually have to TELL people that I have it because no one would pick it up on me otherwise.
I really do feel offended that the word "Autistic" would be used in this context. It shows how the person lacks sensitivity, and knowledge about the actual disability.
But... while we're on the subject of derogatory words towards the mentally challenged. Special Olympics International has been running a campaign for quite some time now to try to get the word "retarded" ousted as an acceptable phrase. Since I'm both diagnosed with autism and am a Special Olympics athlete I've been following the campaign quite a bit.
@goldenhossam@xanga - Thank you for your suggestion. I have tried the GF and Dairy Free diets. They did not help myself or my children make any miraculous recoveries. Thank you though ;)
@Moofey@hardestlevel - @Coffee_Kaioken@xanga - @wideopenskies@xanga - @Aislinn O'Connor - @aspergers2mom - @keystspf@xanga - Thank you all kindly for your feedback. I appreciate the sharing and understanding.
I don't think "retarded," "gay," or "autistic" make for funny jokes either. And it isn't just kids making these either. One of them was (allegedly, reportedly) a CEO of a major corporation!
I look around me, at the people in the stores, doctor's offices, and such and it's a wonder to me that the autistic community members are the ones that are considered "abnormal" or "atypical" in nature! We are often so highly attuned to making a social faux pas that we are unfailingly diligent in minding our manners and such.... why bother if the rest of the world doesn't?
I guess I'm just getting fed up with overall rudeness of others. I want to start a letter campaign or something but who'd we send the letters to? Our neighbors? Or kids' freinds' parents? The editor of a local newspaper? I want to write and say "HEY! It's NOT okay!" to insult people. It's beyond the point of just getting on my nerves. It's one of the reasons that I wish I could go back into my own world. Go back to that safe and comfortable space and never come back out again.
It's not that you're oversensitive, because that would bother me too. I get bothered when someone uses "mexican" negatively. Like "Oh, he's just a stupid mexican". What does him being mexican have to do with his intelligence? (my boyfriend is mexican).
But anyway, you just have to learn to not acknowledge it. People will be people, and don't care if they offend you or not. I, myself, have stopped calling people "stupid" and call them "silly", because it's not so rude.
My youngest child is not autistic, but he has SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder), which can be very disruptive at times. Even from his older siblings sometimes, he gets ridicule or teased. It's frustrating to see and hear. Obviously I can deal with his siblings, but I know when we are out in public and he acts up, people just do not understand. They look at us (the parents) as though we are doing something wrong. People are so insensitive! I wish people were more understanding, but fact is, they're just not. My son is extremely intelligent for his age. Intelligence has nothing to do with it. If someone acts a bit quirky or weird, people think they are stupid.
I agree. Stupid is as stupid does... and people that judge or ridicule are acting pretty dumb, IMO.
That's a shame.
Even if you were oversensitive it would not make you wrong and in this case you are right!
This is a retarded entry.
Or would you prefer gay? What about lame and dumb?
Any word in the dictionary carryies a graident of meanings and applications. "Lame" and "dumb" have found their ways into informal speech, and most have come to dissociate their usual uses from the physically handicapped or from the deaf.
Gay and retarded, in my view, in certain contextes and useages, have evolved this same sort of dissociation from their original meanings. I can use those words descriptively without primary reference to homosexuals or th ementally handicapped.
Of course, I'd watch myself with lame, dumb, gay, retarded, and autistic when the listeners or the audience may be personally effected by the literal meaning of those words. I'd be sensitive to this. But with personal company who share the same informal understanding of the words-- why should it fucking matter?
Useage of those words don't necessarily belie prejudices or real-world insensitivies.
Wow! That is terrible that people have started using autistic as an insult. As someone said previously, I have been diagnosed with Asperger's but I have to tell people and usually they are shocked to find out. I have some symptoms of it but I don't think I have it full blown. It's such a sickening topic. I hate the word retard in general. The gay thing too is so dumb. I will admit however I did used to use that word to describe things that were "stupid" but that was a couple years ago and I have found better terms to say. It's socially innappropriate to use gay and retard but I guess it doesn't stop some people. There are so many things that could be changed by people just growing up and realizing what they say affects people. Sadly, some people are empathic and they just don't care. Sad face =[
It's a sad fact that any adjective that denotes something as 'different' or 'not normal' will eventually become an insut. Perhaps in the past, when humanity, or maybe even further back, when humanity's ancestors lived in family groups, distrust of anyone from outside of the clan/tribe/troop was neccessarry for the family group's survival and protection. So maybe it is an evolutionary throwback?
 Unfortunately, in our modern age, this has lead to a desire to insult anyone outside of our 'tribe'. These days those outside the 'tribe' can mean others of an ethnicity, religion. social group, music/fashion clique or neighbourhood other than our own. You've only got to look at the ridiculous violence that periodically errupts between supporters of different football teams here in the UK .
When I was at school, back in the 1980's a remarkable, courageous man with very severe cerebral palsey named Joey Deacon became something of a celebrity ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Deacon ). Mr Deacon was affected to severely by his condition that he was incapable of coherant speech, and had little in the way of motor skills. As soon as he had made his first appearance on TV, overnight in the playgrounds of Britain's schools anyone who was precieved as different, unpopular or a suitable subject for bullying was called 'A Joey'.
You're not being over-sensitive, your concrn over this matter shows that you're a warm, caring human being who is concerned for others, unlike the callous anonymous poster.