I think that when people (hopefully all of us on this website) work to eliminate ableist language from their vocabulary, they end up with many fewer words to describe certain patterns/behaviors negatively.

Put your favorite non-ableist insult/descriptor in the comments!

  • Side track comment about language difference

    The language difference is so interesting, because the word “stupid” for example would be translated as “tyhmä” in Finnish, but the Finnish word doesn’t carry a similar ableist meaning and isn’t in any way tied to psych jargon for example. The root of the word has ties to words that can be seen ableist however, like “dumm”.

    But the word itself could be meaning-translated as “unaware”/“unknowledgeable” and that would probably be the closest to its meaning today.