Right, but as far as I can tell, it actually isn't outdated among people who have trouble walking. The term is alive and well. The group just isn't being talked about that much.
I pretty much had the same reaction, except with a few others tied in. First off, my introduction to disability came first through the blind community, and most people in the blind community tend to actively get annoyed with people's efforts to avoid sighted language around them. Although I suspect it's because people tend to be more inclined to try to filter out things like "See you later" which aren't offensive than things like "blind to reason" which could be (there are better examples, but I can't think of them offhand - blindness is actually vastly used to mean ignorance or incompetence, although sometimes it is used in a supposedly positive but childlike way, and then there are "blind dates" and such. You can turn a "blind eye toward it" (which I've done!) or be the "blind leading the blind" (which works far better than the Bible implies that it does if at least one of those blind people is competent and so forth). But despite the huge extent to which blindness is used metaphorically, sight is used even more within the language and when people try to filter out all sight terms for no really good reason or act as if blind people wouldn't understand the concept it's quite annoying to most blind people I've read the opinions of on the matter. So, coming initially from that community, it biased me toward most disabled people would really like you to just stop being incredibly awkward in your language use around them, when the actual state of things in the wider community is a bit more nuanced.
Then there is the fact that I am lame, but don't really mind the use of the word (but came into it as an adult - most people who really get hurt by the terms tend to have had their problems from childhood, and it is a reminder of years of childhood taunts).
Then I posted about how I didn't really think of "lame" as much of an issue and found out that I knew someone who did self-identify as lame who did find it hurtful and yes, there are actually real people who do. It was not just an issue invented by non-disabled people who thought it might be. And since then, having read enough stuff by those who have spastic conditions to learn how hurtful the term "spaz" can be, I can imagine that those who grew up lame would likely have similar issues, despite the fact that I never even would have thought of the connection for "spaz".
So, it feels outdated, but it isn't for those who actually are going around being lame. Although some primarily self-describe as "crippled" or "crip" or "gimp" or "handicapped" and others hate any of those terms that I just listed for various reasons. About the only term though that I can find that is universally hated and I don't know anyone who self-identifies with is "handicapable". "Differently abled" is generally reserved for people who are both disabled and have superpowers, such as Professor Xavier. He is differently abled, and it rocks.
Oh, and "wheelchair-bound" is offensive to a lot of people, and I find it very offensive. There are wheechair users. Very few people are actually whelchair-bound or "confined to a wheelchair". It makes me want to talk about the poor, struggling masses of "car-bound suburbia" who are completely incapable of surviving without their expensive, environment-damaging disability aids. How tragically they grew up unable to run at 55 miles per hour or to carry home 12 bags of groceries at once, and they are now pathetically confined to cars for the rest of their lives.
It probably is different among different groups of disabled people, but that's what I've found so far.
Although, avoiding the word "lame" for people who have trouble walking is annoying. I get why people would and do. But I can't think of a good, easy replacement. It seems people have to use sentences to replace the term. And you would refer to someone as blind or visually impaired. It's not like mentioning the specific disability is always offensive.
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I pretty much had the same reaction, except with a few others tied in. First off, my introduction to disability came first through the blind community, and most people in the blind community tend to actively get annoyed with people's efforts to avoid sighted language around them. Although I suspect it's because people tend to be more inclined to try to filter out things like "See you later" which aren't offensive than things like "blind to reason" which could be (there are better examples, but I can't think of them offhand - blindness is actually vastly used to mean ignorance or incompetence, although sometimes it is used in a supposedly positive but childlike way, and then there are "blind dates" and such. You can turn a "blind eye toward it" (which I've done!) or be the "blind leading the blind" (which works far better than the Bible implies that it does if at least one of those blind people is competent and so forth). But despite the huge extent to which blindness is used metaphorically, sight is used even more within the language and when people try to filter out all sight terms for no really good reason or act as if blind people wouldn't understand the concept it's quite annoying to most blind people I've read the opinions of on the matter. So, coming initially from that community, it biased me toward most disabled people would really like you to just stop being incredibly awkward in your language use around them, when the actual state of things in the wider community is a bit more nuanced.
Then there is the fact that I am lame, but don't really mind the use of the word (but came into it as an adult - most people who really get hurt by the terms tend to have had their problems from childhood, and it is a reminder of years of childhood taunts).
Then I posted about how I didn't really think of "lame" as much of an issue and found out that I knew someone who did self-identify as lame who did find it hurtful and yes, there are actually real people who do. It was not just an issue invented by non-disabled people who thought it might be. And since then, having read enough stuff by those who have spastic conditions to learn how hurtful the term "spaz" can be, I can imagine that those who grew up lame would likely have similar issues, despite the fact that I never even would have thought of the connection for "spaz".
So, it feels outdated, but it isn't for those who actually are going around being lame. Although some primarily self-describe as "crippled" or "crip" or "gimp" or "handicapped" and others hate any of those terms that I just listed for various reasons. About the only term though that I can find that is universally hated and I don't know anyone who self-identifies with is "handicapable". "Differently abled" is generally reserved for people who are both disabled and have superpowers, such as Professor Xavier. He is differently abled, and it rocks.
Oh, and "wheelchair-bound" is offensive to a lot of people, and I find it very offensive. There are wheechair users. Very few people are actually whelchair-bound or "confined to a wheelchair". It makes me want to talk about the poor, struggling masses of "car-bound suburbia" who are completely incapable of surviving without their expensive, environment-damaging disability aids. How tragically they grew up unable to run at 55 miles per hour or to carry home 12 bags of groceries at once, and they are now pathetically confined to cars for the rest of their lives.
It probably is different among different groups of disabled people, but that's what I've found so far.
Although, avoiding the word "lame" for people who have trouble walking is annoying. I get why people would and do. But I can't think of a good, easy replacement. It seems people have to use sentences to replace the term. And you would refer to someone as blind or visually impaired. It's not like mentioning the specific disability is always offensive.