I find myself explaining to people a lot recently why using "bipolar" "narcissistic" "psychopath" etc is an issue, because it can be hard to articulate in the moment, so here it is all together:
The terminology that is related to certain conditions, disorders, and neurotypes being appropriated by others to be used in commonplace situations necessarily creates problems for those whose conditions these terms are supposed to belong to and help. It stigmatises certain behaviours, makes them the butt of the joke, or underplays how debilitating they can be.
For someone who has to live with bipolar disorder, people using "bipolar" or "mania" loosely suggests that the actual bipolar people are overreacting, or else that their condition is a joke when in fact this condition not only hinders them in an ableist world, but also brings violence and discrimination against them because of the condition.
Such also is the case for personality disorders and complex disorders like schizophrenia. Using "psychotic" as an insult or a modifier erases the fact that it's a condition which most aversely affects the psychotic person, it stigmatises them as dangerous when in fact psychotic people are the ones more likely to receive violence than inflict it statistically and historically.
Saying psychopath when you mean a serial killer and sociopath when you mean someone who is cruel is also wrong in that same vein because these are ((now redundant)) subtypes of anti social personality disorder, which does not make people more likely to cause harm or to be "evil" or abusive, but rather causes issues in their own lives due to a lack of empathy, which must also not be confused with a lack of compassion.
Narcissistic personality disorder similarly is a cluster of self esteem issues, identity crisis, and a fragmented sense of self that shows itself in certain behaviours. Borderline personality disorder also is similarly stigmatised, when in fact people with this disorder are far more likely to be victims of abuse. Terms like "narcissistic abuse" or "borderline abuse" suggest that these people abused you because of their disorder, which is not at all true, and any idea of abuse can already be encompassed simply by calling it "abuse" plain and simple rather than stigmatizing a bunch of people in the process of this.
All of these disorders, though not curable, still are treatable in that people are trying to get help and adjust to life despite their symptoms. This only becomes possible as long as these symptoms and terminologies are not stigmatized any further by an ableist society. The terms used to describe these disorders are meant to HELP the people with those disorders. Not to become an excuse to treat these people worse and make them feel unwelcome.
You're neurologically simple. That's what we should call them. đđđđThis is @andrewrusso is the only reason why I have TikTok. His mental health skits and because of Timmy. If you don't know Timmy check @andrewrusso on IG, TikTok and YouTube.
Please stop simplifying Shannonâs shitty behavior to âshe made mistakesâ ohmygod.
Ableism is not a âmistakeâ. A biological mother returning after two years, speaking negatively about her childâs condition and how hard it was for her is not a mistake. Thatâs selfishness.
Able-bodied people stop talking challenge.
People whoâve never had ableist parents stop talking challenge.
Able-bodied leftists NEED to change the way they talk about service labor.
They'll talk over and over again about treating workers with respect and shit but then treat service work as inherently humiliating or exploitative, as if that inherently reduced those workers to feudal servants or some shit who need to be freed not of capitalist abuses, but of service itself.
"Who would want to service others?!" Well, bitches, if I had the physical capacity for it and the conditions under which service labor exists in a capitalist society weren't so deplorable, I would!
I already do a lot of things for my also physically disabled family that, if I wasn't related to them and they were paying me, would absolutely count as care and service work. I like it! I enjoy servicing others when I'm treated by them with respect and a minimum of reciprocity.
There will ALWAYS be people who'll need service labor from others, no matter how utopic of a communist society. Children, the sick and injured, elderly people, and disabled people will always exist. Even if you try to breed disabled people out, we will keep reappearing over and over again, no matter how many fetal genetic testings you develop and how many of us you sterilize and murder.
What are you gonna do about us in a communist society? Are we supposed to magically become able-bodied and not need accommodations once the revolution arrives? Are you going to kill us so we don't demand Awful labor that you deem too low for anybody to perform? Why do you see service as inherently humiliating and exploitative?
If you feel perfectly ok using devices made with child labor and wearing clothes made by sweatshop workers because "there's no ethical consumption under capitalism", why is that different when disabled people pay for service labor in a capitalist society?
Why are WE different? Why is your need to tweet on a device made with child labor and wear cute clothes made in sweatshops more ethically justifiable than, I don't know... A person who can't leave their house getting FOOD delivered to them? FUCKING FOOD. An actual vital necessity. Why is it that when able-bodied leftists can't escape the unethical nature of capitalism that's ok, but when disabled people can't escape it EVEN HARDER because we LITERALLY HAVE NO CHOICE then we're the enemies of the working class?
Get a fucking grip. Service labor and care labor aren't inherently exploitative, they turn exploitative under exploitative systems, and some people will always need that from others TO SURVIVE. Not to be whimsical lazy parasites, TO SURVIVE.
Service labor is just as noble and beautiful as producing needed material goods or working the land, it's NECESSARY for any and all societies, and just like disabled people have a right to complain when healthcare workers fail us, we have a right to complain when service workers fail us because it's not a fucking whim to us, IT'S JUST AS VITAL AS MEDICAL CARE.
Wishing the people who remove benches in public spaces a very die