Perhaps you would enjoy this article about the American brand of Spazz wheelchairs, which were poorly received in the UK. They’re still being sold under that name.
“Spastic” and even “spaz” is used in the US but isn’t considered an ablest slur here. My understanding is the British used it as a slur for cerebral palsy or parkinson’s disease patients, where in the US it simply means an uncoordinated jerky motion and/or clumsiness. Let’s not mince words, the United States of America is perfectly capable of generating slurs; but this one isn’t ours.
There was a British charity, The Spastic Society. They became fairly high profile in the early 80s being involved in children’s magazine shows for fund raising. Often children with conditions would be featured. The intent was that featuring them would make the condition more relatable, but kids saw them more freaks to be mocked.
It resulted in “spastic” / “spaz” becoming school playground taunts to the extent that the charity changed it’s name to avoid the term.
“Spaz” as in to “spaz out” has always meant crazy or some variation on that where I grew up, though I haven’t heard it in ages. I suppose it is ableist, and I suppose we always meant it that way, I just never thought of a person with a disability when I said it. The flip side of that is, by so casually likening someone to a differently abled person in a prejudicial way, one demeans the differently abled person, even if they weren’t the target of the ire or the ridicule.
The closest it came to being used as a slur in the US is to accuse someone of clumsiness. We never called people suffering from nervous system diseases “spastics.” Don’t put that evil on me, Ricky Bobby.
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Limey detected. That’s a Bri’ish thing.
It’s used in the US.
Perhaps you would enjoy this article about the American brand of Spazz wheelchairs, which were poorly received in the UK. They’re still being sold under that name.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2005/oct/17/shopping.health
“Spastic” and even “spaz” is used in the US but isn’t considered an ablest slur here. My understanding is the British used it as a slur for cerebral palsy or parkinson’s disease patients, where in the US it simply means an uncoordinated jerky motion and/or clumsiness. Let’s not mince words, the United States of America is perfectly capable of generating slurs; but this one isn’t ours.
There was a British charity, The Spastic Society. They became fairly high profile in the early 80s being involved in children’s magazine shows for fund raising. Often children with conditions would be featured. The intent was that featuring them would make the condition more relatable, but kids saw them more freaks to be mocked.
It resulted in “spastic” / “spaz” becoming school playground taunts to the extent that the charity changed it’s name to avoid the term.
“Spaz” as in to “spaz out” has always meant crazy or some variation on that where I grew up, though I haven’t heard it in ages. I suppose it is ableist, and I suppose we always meant it that way, I just never thought of a person with a disability when I said it. The flip side of that is, by so casually likening someone to a differently abled person in a prejudicial way, one demeans the differently abled person, even if they weren’t the target of the ire or the ridicule.
So we were definitely in the wrong for using it.
There’s no way to interpret it as anything other than an ableist slur. It simply isn’t a cause célèbre to complain about in the US.
The closest it came to being used as a slur in the US is to accuse someone of clumsiness. We never called people suffering from nervous system diseases “spastics.” Don’t put that evil on me, Ricky Bobby.
Plenty of people aren’t aware that gyp comes from gypsy, but that doesn’t change the origin or meaning of the term.