Comedian Carlos Mencia had a bit where he would call things “retarded” in a mocking voice. Usually the antics of what we would call “karen culture” today. Even in the early 2000’s this kind of humor was seen by some as a bit insensitive, which led him to explain on his show what the humor was about. He put it like this: (paraphrased because this was over 20 years ago and good luck finding this quote on YouTube these days.)

There are people who are born “retarded” and have special needs. These are brave people and I love and respect them and wish them nothing but the best. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about people who were born and then BECAME “retarded.”

At least in the states, this is part of the labeling process. There is an ongoing effort, promoted by the current Secretary of Health, to dehumanize autistic people. Remember, he does advocate sending us to work camps.

Autistic people I’ve come into contact with have been some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Sometime weird or socially awkward but generally really smart.

But I like weird. You don’t remember the normal people.

Every word that was used to refer to someone with some form of mental difference has been turned into an insult. At a certain point you need to just get over it.

Dumb, idiot, imbecile, slow, retard, etc were all originally used to refer to people with legitimate mental health issues and have been turned into insults and are now considered rude to say.

It doesn’t matter what word you come up with to try to “fix” this is going to happen.

Yeah, not great. I think if you understand the difference between what is a disparaging kind of ‘joke’ and something thats actually humorous, then you can just judge this.

“Fucking cringe.” And just walk away. Don’t accept any ‘explanation’ of why it’s funny. Let them become upset by your reaction, if necessary. “Nah, we’re not going to be making fun of disabled people. You’re on your own.”

I’m annoyed by it. Not necessarily because I think it’s offensive, but because I think it normalizes not taking the neurological condition seriously.

It’s the kind of thing that dead ends people’s thoughts on the subject.

It’s one thing when someone with Autism says they “have the 'tism”. Its something else entirely when someone who doesn’t have autism says it or jokes about it that way. I feel the same way about how people will say “everyone is a little OCD”. No. That is not true. Not everyone has a compulsion they can’t control that forces them to wash their hands until they bleed. Nobody cares if you like your desk tidy, Deborah.

I try to remind myself that people don’t know but it’s hard to call it out all the time. I’m not always in the head space to deal with people or their propensity to get defensive and mean.

I wonder what passes by on these people’s minds. I often see my classmates call each other autistic and it is NOT funny.

It does not bother me but I also don’t really like or use the label. Maybe because of this phenomenon or because of the general lack of education I find that when I tell someone I’m autistic I get very poor support versus just explaining what I struggle with (eye contact, physical touch, taking things literally). I work in a field where being disagreeable and taking things literally are helpfull so that probably also helps.

In my experience, autistic has been increasingly used as a soft replacement for retarded or developmentally disabled. Its just ignorant people or assholes trying to find a word that hasn’t hit the no-no list yet.

I think it is plain stupid.

Autism is a condition, still very much under study, but already well understood enough to teach people what does in fact imply to be autistic.

Other words that started as medical terms - imbecile, idiot, retard, etc - were readily abused and turned into insults because, as I understand it, there was not the same degree of understanding and popularization of the subjects towards the open society in order to avoid basterdizing the scientific knowledge.

What you describe, plainly put, is dehumanizing.

If its at work in front of people, I make them repeat it by saying, “sorry what was that?” Often that makes people uncomfortable enough to not do it again, at least in front of people.

I have a close friend with schizophrenia, and jokes about “hearing voices” and similar are pretty common among young people in Germany.

I believe that such jokes only harm the understanding of what is actually being joked about, have no value, and may hurt those who are affected by these things.

I think it’s one of those cases where the actual definition and the cultural definition deviate, and I accept that people are kinda just being a bit funny.

If people are using it to be degrading or berating, I will call it out (or just not interact with those people anymore) but I usually think it’s meant to be a bit self-critical, funny and endearing. I don’t really mind in that case, because it’s not said in offense, and I appreciate people making fun of themselves every once in a while.

I’ve only had something like that happen once, and I suggested that I had some good resources from my wife and kid, and I could hook him up. He kind of awkwardly laughed it off and said he was good.

I still don’t know if he was trying to be use it as a punchline, or trying to share his condition. I certainly don’t want to push people away from sharing their struggles if they are using humor to deal with a hard topic. But yeah, using it as a punch line is pretty insensitive. I’ve said I was being OCD as a joke about being particular about a project, and I totally could have hurt someone’s feelings who actually struggles with a real condition, and that kind of sucks.

It doesn’t bother me, but I am very rarely offended by words and don’t participate in all of the drama over proper terminology.

I am always uncomfortable and take responsibility for that discomfort… in my opinion focusing on self-control is usually preferable to trying to control anyone else.

(I have a different diagnosis, but the treatment for me is the same regardless)