I must stop reading click-bate from the National Post. It just keeps getting worse.
Words matter. They can hurt as much as sticks and
stones. For example, persons who live with chronic shame owing to repeated
insults are more likely to experience any number of psychosocial and physical
ailments. The most serious of these ailments include heart disease and suicidal
ideation. These conditions have unfortunately high (co)morbidity rates. It is
only a quaint notion of the Cartesian mind-body split that holds words cannot
physically harm a person. And if a certain community carries a pervasive sense
of shame, this is one way of maintaining their intra-generational subjugation.
They are more likely to become physically and mentally ill, thereby making it
challenging for them to access full citizenship and the benefits of equal
recognition from their fellow human beings.
I despise those who cower behind the bombastic cudgel of
free expression to legitimate their brash behaviour. What is so arduous about being
nice? The article illuminates interesting antinomies within the philosophical
scaffolding of settler colonial liberalism, however
First, the CBC did not ban these words; the CBC simply
advised circumspection when using them. Even if the CBC DID ban these words, they
are not the government. They do not directly control what Canadian subjects say
or do.
Second, we should note how many of these words promote
the ideology of ability and nondisabled supremacy. As Tobin Siebers noted in
his 2008 book, “Disability Theory,” the ideology of ability is so obeyed that
questioning it provokes outrage. Unlike gay men (and women using that term
instead of lesbian) who successfully challenged words that demeaned them in
everyday speech, to function within able-bodied society, persons with
disabilities are forced to turn a “blind eye” to words that make them feel “lame”
and cause them to have a “spastic” reaction. When they complain about it, such
complaints “fall on deaf ears” and if they tried to assert “standing” in court
to challenge this claim they would be seen as a “lunatic” or an “idiot”. In
other words, by speaking English, I am forced to constantly distort and
misrecognize my own existence. This distortion amplifies marginalization. It is
nearly impossible to denaturalize the eugenicist folk wisdom of contemporary
English.
I was dismayed that crippled is a work meriting the
hallowed protection of freedom of expression according to the National Post.
Many in the disabled community, including me, have been called this odious term
by those with venom on their lips and have felt the confining effect it has on
our diminished humanity.
Third, the
interweaving connections between these oppressive words and expressions reveal the
common cause persons with disabilities have with BIPOC folks, many of whom, of
course, are also disabled on top of their other statuses. Furthermore, while
each experience of oppression has unique historical and cultural factors that
we must not ignore, the word list shows a particular connection between
anti-disability prejudice and settler colonial violence. Sadly, this link does
not surprise me. The eugenic fantasy of a blemish free white able-bodied
settler colony, that can conquer the unfortunate vicissitudes of nature through
technological advancement undergirds both subjugating ideologies./
Broken Bones (City of Love - Radio Mix) - YouTube
