Disability and "Softer/Sterile" words

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[Mysthalin]

I agree with Hicks here. There's a massive difference between harassment and unwarranted discrimination (both terrible things that should be combated) and simply calling things as they are. A lot of the words on "the list" are not even remotely close to being hurtful, and the justification given for them being "unacceptable" is - quite frankly, bullshit.

On top of doing nothing to prevent either harassment or discrimination, they actually compound the issue (as Hicks has accurately pointed out) by dehumanizing the problems these people have to deal with on a regular basis, and aggregating them to the point of being nearly impossible to distinguish. How does it help me to know how I should communicate with a person that has a "mental difficulty" when it can encompass anything from being mildly Neurotic to full-fleged Paranoid Schizophrenia? Might as well go down the line of thinking of "A spaz is a spaz right? Just ignore them all for the useless dregs they are, lol"

Another issue is the fact that most people with whatever mental or physical handicap will absolutely loathe you for walking on egg-shells around them about the issue. Being conspicuously clear about your blatant attempts to avoid the issue is far more infuriating to most people than answering stupid questions - which the questions don't even have to be. I'm pretty sure a world-class Paralympian will not go into a flying rage if you sincerely ask him "Could I know how you lost your legs?" whereas sitting there awkwardly avoiding the elephant in the room just brings attention to the fact that - yes, he's wearing prosthetics instead of his actual legs, why are you drawing so much attention to it? Just bloody spit it out.

The most important thing here is the context and way in which words are used, not the words themselves. Limiting the use of words is quite frankly - stupid, and censorship like this should be fought against by the general populace, not embraced with glee.