LanguageBot list of ableist words

Submitted by Fossidarity at January 1, 2019 at 7:42 PM in Ability (edited at January 4, 2019 at 9:51 PM)

Please discuss the ableist words that /u/LanguageBot should comment on here.

word	alternative
bitch	making a fuss, whining, nagging,
cripple	frozen by, stopped by, completely stuck, totally halted all operations if using metaphors; physically disabled person, person with a mobility impairment, paralyzed person if referring to a disabled person,
daft	dense, ignorant, lacks understanding, impulsive, risk-taker, uninformed, silly, foolish,
deranged	dense, ignorant, lacks understanding, impulsive, risk-taker, uninformed, silly, foolish,
derp	obviously, of course, uh yeah, ummm, ummm uhhh, um yeah, hell yeah, fuck yeah,
dumb	dense, ignorant, lacks understanding, impulsive, risk-taker, uninformed, silly, foolish to replace metaphor; nonspeaking, nonverbal, person with a speech impairment, person with a cognitive disability, Deaf person, hard of hearing person to refer to a Deaf or disabled person,
harelip	cleft lip, cleft palate, cleft lip and palate,
fatso	person of size,
fag	cigarette, weak, powerless, hesitant,
faggot	weak, powerless, hesitant,
homo	homosexual,
idiot	uninformed, reckless, impulsive, ignorant, risk-taking, risky and dangerous, dipshit,
imbecile	uninformed, reckless, impulsive, ignorant, risk-taking, risky and dangerous, dipshit,
insan	wild, confusing, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, fearless, lives on the edge, thrill-seeker, risk-taker, out of control,
lame	boring, uninteresting, monotonous, lacks excitement, uncool, out of fashion if using metaphors; physically disabled person, person with a mobility impairment, paralyzed person if referring to a disabled person, bad, gross, the pits,
loony	wild, confusing, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, fearless, lives on the edge, thrill-seeker, risk-taker, out of control,
lunatic	wild, confusing, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, fearless, lives on the edge, thrill-seeker, risk-taker, out of control, scary,
maniac	wild, confusing, unpredictable, impulsive, reckless, fearless, lives on the edge, thrill-seeker, risk-taker, out of control, extremely energetic,
moron	uninformed, reckless, impulsive, ignorant, risk-taking, risky and dangerous, dipshit,
pussy	weak, powerless, hesitant,
retard	uninformed, reckless, impulsive, ignorant, risk-taking, risky and dangerous, dipshit,
spaz	klutzy, clumsy, forgetful, impulsive, reckless,
stupid	uninformed, reckless, impulsive, ignorant, risk-taking, risky and dangerous, dipshit,
tranny	I don't deserve to live

EDITS:

2019-01-02: Removed 'mad'.
2019-01-04: Removed 'blind', 'bonkers', 'crazy', 'cuckoo', 'deaf', 'deform', 'handicap', 'hermaphrodite', 'obese', 'psycho', 'nuts', 'wacko'. Added: 'fatso', 'bitch', 'homo', 'fag', 'faggot', 'homo', 'pussy', 'tranny'.

Comments

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ziq wrote at January 4, 2019 at 1:39 PM (edited at January 4, 2019 at 1:45 PM)

I'd remove:

blind (never seen it used to insult blind people. It's not ableist to acknowledge that blindness exists.)

bonkers (never seen it used as an insult)

crazy (A lot of people identify as 'crazy' and I wouldn't want them to get told off by the bot for talking about it)

cuckoo (effectively bans people from mentioning cuckoo birds & cuckoo clocks which is ridic. No one uses it as an insult any more)

deaf (I don't want a deaf person told off for saying that they're deaf. It's also never used as an insult in writing - so the bot is just banning talking about deafness. It's only used in a negative manner when people say "Are you deaf??" when there's a miscommunication. But this is a written forum, so in writing, they'd say "Can't you read??")

deform (this has so many uses that aren't at all offensive (deformed bridge, deformed tree, the deform function in Gimp) and it's very rare that it's used to mock a physical deformity (and what if someone wanted to talk about their physical deformity?)

handicap (has uses in sports / betting / etc)

obese (It's a very common medical term and people aren't going to stop using it any time soon)

nuts (culinary use - people being told off for talking about eating nuts will just make them hate the bot),

wacko (most common usage: "a person who is wacky / fun / carefree / zany" It can be used in an ableist manner but that's rare. If it has common non-offensive uses then the bot shouldn't be triggered by it. Context matters.)

Tequila_Wolf wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:30 PM

I think that using 'blind' or 'deaf' to refer to thing other than actual blindness or deafness is ableist, especially when there's a negative element involved.

One example I'd give here is that I think it's ableist to use the term "colour blind racism".

I think that the bot would have to be able to read for context to manage those words adequately though.

Fossidarity wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:42 PM

The bot won't be able to read context, that's almost impossible.

LanguageBot wrote at January 4, 2019 at 1:40 PM

I've noticed you used the ableist word "deaf" in your comment, please refrain from doing so.
Consider instead: willfully ignorant, deliberately ignoring, turning their back on, had every reason to know, feigned ignorance

Discussion about the words here.

throwaway wrote at January 4, 2019 at 5:21 PM

LanguageBot should probably be disabled until it's ready to include all offenses in one response, and doesn't repeat the same messages twice. Just look at this mess.

TheLegendaryBirdMonster [moderator] wrote at January 4, 2019 at 5:31 PM

yeah, it is curently. I'm cleaning up this thread.

throwaway wrote at January 4, 2019 at 5:34 PM

Cool, thank you!

selver wrote at January 1, 2019 at 9:18 PM

Aren't deaf and blind used by deaf and blind people?

Is "lame", as in "uncool", really connected to disability?

I'm still not sold on not being able to call an idea stupid.

ziq wrote at January 4, 2019 at 4:48 PM (edited at January 4, 2019 at 4:49 PM)

lame originally meant the same as 'cripple' but it hasn't meant that for a long, long time so I'm inclined to think it shouldn't be included. 'Gimp' also meant the same thing.

Tequila_Wolf wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:27 PM

People still use lame to mean a dead limb where I live.

Fossidarity wrote at January 1, 2019 at 9:31 PM

Well I'm really well versed on this topic so that's why I'd like to discuss these things here. I can see how these words can be connected to disability but they integrated in such a way that this connection is not the association.

alex wrote at January 4, 2019 at 10:04 PM

maybe add "midget?"

Fossidarity wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:59 AM

What would be alternative terms?

alex wrote at January 5, 2019 at 6:32 PM

little person is the most common term. dwarf is also ok since it refers to the medical “dwarfism”

conseil wrote at February 4, 2019 at 2:06 PM

I've gotta say I think this one should still be added - 'little person' and maybe 'dwarf'?

Fossidarity wrote at February 5, 2019 at 11:51 AM

I'm not sure about this, because the words will be matched independent of context so it might result in false-positives.

conseil wrote at February 5, 2019 at 1:04 PM

I meant that it should respond to 'midget' with those.

ziq wrote at January 5, 2019 at 8:19 AM

Makes sense.

miser wrote at January 4, 2019 at 4:23 PM

Same as Ziq, but I would also include:

daft (it means the same thing as foolish or ignorant)

hermaphrodite (this one is a bit tricky since it is a word that is considered potentially stigmatizing, but hermaphroditism is something that exists in biology and a lot of animals (like worms or snails) and plants are described as "hermaphrodites")

ziq wrote at January 4, 2019 at 4:46 PM (edited at January 4, 2019 at 4:47 PM)

I almost added daft to my exclusions but the only people that use it are british and fuck the british anyway.

Freux wrote at January 4, 2019 at 9:10 PM (edited at January 4, 2019 at 9:24 PM)

Suggestion of words to add:

bitch(y): making a fuss, whining, nagging...
pussy: weak, powerless, hesitant...
tranny: no idea, as a slur i don't think it needs a replacement, the kind of word that deserve an insta-ban so might not need to be on the list?
faggot: weak, powerless, hesitant...
fag: cigarette, weak...
gay: not the word itself but it's use a lot as an insult for anything (boring, crappy, awful etc.)
homo: homosexual (I feel like when people write "homo" it's mostly as an insult so just suggesting to use the full word should be fine).

Tequila_Wolf wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:32 PM

I think that pussy is fine to refer to pussies. i.e. the genetalia. Like if I talk about my pussy. The problem is when it's used to talk about things that are't pussies, and associating pussies with weakness etc.

Freux wrote at January 6, 2019 at 7:55 AM

I agree with you and that's the problem with bots, not understanding context.

TheLegendaryBirdMonster wrote at January 4, 2019 at 10:50 PM

disagree with all the words but for bitch and pussy. no user has ever used them without being called out.

language bot is for stuff with which we may all need to work on so a "call-in". These words don't need to be on it since they're "call-out" words.

Freux wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:28 AM

I was more thinking that people that use it will get annoyed by the bot spamming them so it could be good for that but you are right, I agree about removing them, except bitch and pussy as you agreed.

Fossidarity wrote at January 4, 2019 at 9:14 PM

What would be good alternatives?

Freux wrote at January 4, 2019 at 9:27 PM

Done :)

Fossidarity wrote at January 4, 2019 at 9:44 PM

Thanks! I feel that "gay" is used so much it's going to get too much false-positives.

bloodrose wrote at January 4, 2019 at 5:49 PM

I'd remove obese and add fat. Fat is the slur, obese is the medical term. That is, if the bot ever comes back.

miser wrote at January 4, 2019 at 7:01 PM

Disagree.

I think "fatso" would be a better choice to add to the list than "fat".

"Fat" can be used to describe the macronutrient found in various foods (like trans fats, saturated fats, or unsaturated fats). And it can also be used to describe the types of fats in the body (subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, or brown fat).

bloodrose wrote at January 4, 2019 at 7:21 PM

Good point.

ziq wrote at January 4, 2019 at 6:19 PM

You say 'fat' a lot to refer to yourself, is that behavior you'd like to change?

bloodrose wrote at January 4, 2019 at 7:22 PM

Good point. I, as an obese/fat person, have found the word totally acceptable and find that when people say "oh you're not fat" to me that what they are really saying is "I dislike fatness but I like you." Withdrawn to add fat. Still stand by removing obese.

ziq wrote at January 4, 2019 at 7:25 PM

yeah I've seen you make that argument before so I was confused.

sudo wrote at February 16, 2019 at 2:39 PM

The bot called "bitch" an ableist word; it should probably say 'sexist' instead.

Fossidarity wrote at February 17, 2019 at 2:58 PM

Yeah the bot doesn't make a distinction at the moment but I'll add it to the todo list, thanks!

n_n wrote at January 24, 2019 at 7:39 AM

The word homophobia still alerts the bot.

Fossidarity wrote at January 24, 2019 at 8:53 AM

That one must've slipped through, thanks!

drfuzzyballs1996 wrote at January 5, 2019 at 12:21 PM

Seems like a list of words that are in regular non-insulting usage and shouldn't be censored. Except for harelip which I've never seen or heard before, go ahead and censor it like anyone would notice.

Fossidarity wrote at January 5, 2019 at 1:50 PM

So you can't see how "fag", "retard", "tranny", etc. are insulting?

drfuzzyballs1996 wrote at January 5, 2019 at 2:07 PM

No, I can see it I'm saying it's not necessarily insulting considering the context.

Up until recently I didn't know tranny was considered insulting, it's the context and intent that makes this or that a slur. If you're British fags still refer to cigarettes, and I will still say that my little brother is retarded so long as that is a medical term. Really not a fan of euphemisms here.

amongstclouds wrote at January 5, 2019 at 4:36 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Aspiringfinessegod145 wrote at January 4, 2019 at 4:07 AM

Okay this is just retarded. “Stupid” isn’t a slur. None of these words are slurs. These are what you call accessorized words. It means that the word has been used so much in a context and way that deviates from its original meaning and use to the point where it basically just means the other thing and any rational person would take it to mean its common use as opposed to its original one. Fossidarity, please get a grip on modern language.

Fossidarity [admin] wrote at January 5, 2019 at 10:46 PM

Archived this thread: https://archive.fo/B2duM