How many people are you willing to harm before you change your behaviour? What’s the trade off in human suffering compared to the positives of making your joke?
I already said that I don’t speak for all disabled people, though, anecdotally, in groups that I’m in (I volunteer with a disability support group), the terms special and special needs are often highlighted as ableist terms that disabled people find offensive or get used against them as slurs. Some research online also bears that out, a number of reputable sources online have recommended avoiding the use of the terms special and special needs.
It doesn’t really particularly matter whether you’re disabled or not. This isn’t about identity, it’s about using a slur. If you had used the n-word as part of a joke and got backlash I think you’d understand this a bit better.
You’re being pretty callous around the fact that you genuinely emotionally hurt me, I’ve been as respectful, kind and considerate of you and your feelings as I can be. How do you expect to build a people-led movement to dismantle the exploitation of the working class if you can’t bring yourself to even care for one other person? On just a human level, I’m not trying to have an argument where I one-up you or something like that, this isn’t some debate to win or lose, I’m just talking to you, human to human, and trying to help you to understand that you’re unintentionally hurting people who are one of the most vulnerable minorities in society.
I truly hope that you’re just being a bit edgy and that in future you really will think twice about this kind of thing, regardless of what you write now.
