as small as a world and as large as alone, soilrockslove: bittersnurr: madeofpatterns: ...

3:40am May 17, 2015

bittersnurr:

madeofpatterns:

neednothavehappenedtobetrue:

that one post is good and it should feel good
(well, not the OPs post, that’s some nonsense, but the Tired Disabled Girls Club has already hit it out of the park with the responses)
Weeds and stubborn-string-bones said it better but
“crazy” and “stupid” are both useful words for me in the naming-and-claiming sense. you would take the words I use to claim my brain out of my mouth to protect me from them? that doesn’t sound a lot like anti-ableism.
“behaviors” and “compliance” and “day program” are words where I have to stop, and look away, and breathe. “stupid” and “crazy” are not.
people who want to call me crazy don’t say “crazy” they say “have you taken your medicine?” they say “what’s wrong with you?” they say “are you feeling okay?” they say anything in that tone of voice, slow and sweet.
people who want to call me stupid don’t say “stupid” they say “come on, this isn’t hard” they say “you’re a smart girl,” they say “should you be by yourself, sweetie?” they make their voices louder they say anything in that voice.

YES!

also I get confused how “crazy” and “stupid” are bad but no one complains about “lazy”
Because “lazy” is the thing I got called to shame me for my disability the most. You aren’t stupid, you aren’t crazy, because those would be valid excuses for being unable to preform, you are lazy because you clearly have nothing wrong with you you just aren’t trying.
(I would still not ban lazy because obviously like “stupid” it is something that every person is sometimes regardless of ability level so it is a word that is needed)

All of this!
A lot of words-focused “anti-ableism” activism frustrates me for these reasons.
And, if you are going to focus on how language interacts with how people get harmed (which I don’t think that has to be anyone’s focus, but that’s what the push to stop using “crazy” is supposedly about), then I’m not sure they’re even focusing on the right things. Like jokes about people “needing to take their meds” hit a lot harder. The people I’ve talked to who consensually take psychiatric medication and find it helps them have said they find those jokes crass and making light of what is a very serious need. And for those of us who have been drugged against our will… it feels like a rape joke. Suddenly wondering whether the people around you would actually approve of you having your body and mind altered against your will.
And talking about conspiracy theorists and comparing them to “the kind of mental people that need to be locked up”. NO ONE needs to be locked up just because of how their brain works. Especially not for believing in weird things.
But “crazy” and “stupid”? Nah, they don’t hold the same issues for me.