Tbh I grew up using the word - not as a slur against ppl more of an exclamation like, “that (object or situation) is re-.” Once I learned where it came from and that it was a slur against actual people though I stopped immediately. Like it’s not that hard to recognize how harmful behaviors like this are. I’ll never understand folks who defend it.
My brother who is diagnosed calls himself the R slur and finds it hilarious when we poke at him for autism (my family pokes at each other a lot. We know we are kidding and joking so with each other it’s okay). We only do it at home because we know other people would have a problem with it. I think it goes case by case, but generally the word is not acceptable.
I have autism and one of my biggest compulsions is the importance of the words and phrases we use to prevent being harmful or hurtful to others. Any word or phrase that can be used to put one down isn’t one that should be used. It’s just common courtesy. Even if who you’re saying it to knows you don’t mean it, someone who cares about your opinion can overhear and that will hurt them without you even knowing
Real talk there have been a lot of low-impact autistic and ADHD people who have just unilaterally decided on behalf of the intellectually disabled community that they can use it/give others permission to use it bc they are “reclaiming it” and it pmo so bad??? I see it on this community pretty regularly tbh and I think it’s a huge problem
Fr I have a dude on my school’s community blocked because he thinks because he “knows someone that’s okay with it” that he can use it with everyone and “people shouldn’t be offended by words that don’t apply to them”. I think he just has no concept of how empathy works but his username is “Tate.of.(school name)” I don’t think he’ll listen to logic.
ikr + imo reclaiming a slur is using it for oneself, not in the exact same way it’s been used against people in the past (n-word is semi-exception bc i know they use it to refer to each other but to my knowledge they’re not being derogatory about it). all the people i’ve seen reclaiming the r-slur have been using it as an insult the exact same way nt people do
Yeah so yall are the people I’m talking about. This is a really foolish thing to be doing at a time of rising ablism and reactionary conservatism. We have ableist pseudoscience fanatics in charge of HHS right now, it is not the time to be giving NTs permission to use slurs against disabled people.
I also get really frustrated with this misinformed idea that being ND at large gives people the right to “reclaim” the R-slur. It’s specifically aimed at intellectually disabled folks, and as an ADHD sibling of a brother with Downs it’s so viscerally upsetting to me the ways in which people with ADHD/without IDs are bringing back a slur that’s not even aimed at them. Sick of high impact folks and people with IDs getting steamrolled and ignored, and it’s even worse coming from other disabled