as small as a world and as large as alone

3:41am May 17, 2015

soilrockslove:

And the suggested replacement for “crazy” is usually “mentally ill” which may be accurate and useful for some people, but it doesn’t describe everyone’s experience.  And it ignores that other cultures can see this stuff way differently. and it also can encourage fucked-up shit like forced drugging (because it’s “just like a physical disease” right?) and can actually increase stigma.

And terms like “schizophrenia” and “autism” are generally accepted as ok.  When schizophrenia literally means “split/broken mind” and autism literally means “too self-absorbed” and horrible things have been done to people in the name of those terms.  Not that I’m suggesting that we stop using any of those words.  (I personally don’t think I have a choice, they’re too common.  I think I personally have to help *reclaim* them.) 

Just because something is in latin, or was thought up by doctors doesn’t mean it isn’t a slur.  Just because something is in the vernacular doesn’t mean it *is*.

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