Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 1)

[Jansen]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-r-word%E2%80%99s-comeback-is-a-grim-sign-of-our-political-moment-miles-klee-rolling-stone.1077369/page-2#post-134013429

I don't get it, r-word never left.

iirc Obama changed medical terminology in the 2010s. Mentally retarded was replaced with developmentally or illegally disabled. At a point people used “differently abled” but there wasn’t any legislation behind it. That’s all to say, it’s the euphemism treadmill bit. Retard is in league with retired medical terms like idiot, moron, and imbecile.

Even in the 2000s, our school had special needs classes and students with down’s syndrome and such. Not a single person was cruel to them or hurled slurs. Yet they’d regularly call their friends retards for like buying strawberry milk or watching Elektra or whatever. Children understood context.

How do you get illegally disabled