That's kind of the problem, from a UK perspective - try and stop using a name that's then been given some negative connotations and the kids will just move on and borrow that too, hence 'scopers'. The US case in particular for this happened to go the other way, and spastic was adopted as a synonym for mad(non-clinical)/mental(non-clinical)/scarycool/rad(not-actually-that-divergent); I don't know how current 'spastic' is as a medical term in the US but I suspect it was also replaced a long time ago, but the spazz wheelchair seems to suggest only that it's a cool, funky chair.
Mostly it's a case for not accepting that a term used to describe you should become exclusively a negative thing. Pretty much every insult to describe people as randomly incapable derives from terms for specific disabilities.
I don't think this is a UK vs US English thing - pretty sure the word has the same origin in the US. Of course it may be that many people don't know that that is the origin, but one would hope that a large corporation would carefully research that kind of thing. Incidentally, I have heard it used on the Simpsons as well, which was slightly unexpected (South Park less unexpected).
Indeed! I'd realised that I'd omitted you about an hour after I'd posted; in my defence, both of my cousins' conditions are rather more severe than yours. :/
Yeah. I get what you mean. The point is, I should think nobody liked just being associated with a label, because basically, it's the person who comes first. Or should. Not an anachronistic word with derogatory connotations. Thoughtless people.
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Mostly it's a case for not accepting that a term used to describe you should become exclusively a negative thing. Pretty much every insult to describe people as randomly incapable derives from terms for specific disabilities.
the hatter
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