I love that sentence! It would work, I think, for the majority of situations I find myself in.whollyword wrote:Lorelei, in my own attempts to ask for correction, I have leaned pretty heavily on "I am trying not to use words that conflate disability and non-optimal situations, because that can be hurtful to people with disabilities."
I do run into a few Free Speech Warriors playing Internet Badass occasionally, but experience has shown me that if two "this is why sexist (for example) crap is not welcome in my space" discussions fail to prevent a third discussion, it is time to block and roll on.
Thank you!
ETA: For Free Speech Warriors, I have found it useful to remind them that yes, they are free to say whatever, but the first amendment only protects them from the government censoring their unpopular speech.
It does not:
a) Protect them from a private party objecting to their speech, and a private party can be an employer, school, or a service like Twitter or Facebook
or
b) Protect them from negative consequences that result from their speech.
They do not have a constitutionally protected right to use someone else's resources or bandwidth to engage in hateful speech. Further, they can't say "First Amendment Rights!" if fired for saying horrible [fill in the blank]-ist stuff.
Unfortunately, this approach is very limited, because the type of personality who is all about asserting the right to be a loud, hateful jerkasaurus is often the type of person incapable of understanding either that actions often have consequences or the finer nuances of First Amendment-protected forms of speech.