its SPED a bad word now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The communication has to happen and to identify problems they have to be recognized and identified. These arguments detract from services for our most needed populations. The term SPED is no different than any identifying word. If your culture or the culture you find yourself living in decides to discriminate or abuse students by turning any identifiable word into abusive language I would be more concerned with the culture of that area than the acronym used to identify and provide services for special populations.

"Special populations"?
An acronym that can be used to identify and provide services for "special populations" is already here and *not* being used as a slur. The word is disabled.

[Anonymous]

sPED was used as a slur 40 years ago. Nothing new here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SPED is generally considered to be rude, especially when applied to a person ("SPED kid"), "special education" is still sometimes used but could be rude depending on context. For whatever reason, disabilities and neurodivergency are affected by an unusually fast euphemism treadmill. It seems every decade or so whatever new term is used is adopted by the cruelest kids as a new insult.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Students have used it as a slur for at least a few decades. I have worked in multiple school systems over many years and don't know any school staff that doesn't say it out "Special Ed", probably for that reason.

This was a derogatory slur when I was in ES in the 1960s. Hard to believe that people don’t know this.

Because there's no actual reason for a lot of "slur" words to be slurs. That's just one group of people deciding it's a slur. For other groups that weren't in the area at the same time, maybe they don't know.

Well, people are using it in replace of the r-slur. I'd say it's become a slur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband about fell out of his chair in an IEP meeting in Arlington when the teachers were liberally using the term "sped class" and "sped students."

Yes. Because it's a descriptive. It's like the stupid parsing of Black, African-American, Native American, American Indian, etc. At some point, people need to stop trying to virtue signal that they're not discriminating and just use the words.

People who are not members of the group do not get to decide what words are slurs toward that group and what are not. That is not to say that all members of the group will agree, but it isn’t virtue signaling for outsiders to use or avoid words as preferred by most insiders.

It does Zero harm to you to stop using certain words; conversely you may cause harm, even if unintentional, by stubbornly sticking with them. There are SO MANY WORDS in the English language. You can find a better one.

We members of the group of sane human beings will not let nonmembers like you decide what words are slurs.
No one has the right to demand other people use different words when talking to yet other people just because you are too stupid to understand the difference what is said and how it's said. Your war on language harms all of humanity by destroying our ability to communicate.

Your response to them genuinely makes me want to cry.