Let’s Connect! Did you learn something new? Let me know what by LEAVING A COMMENT BELOW.Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual.
Making this change may seem small, and it definitely is compared to everything that disabled people need in order to have equal rights, but it is still an important step in the right direction. In switching out this one word with some of the alternatives listed below, you will do your part in slowly dismantling the systemic ableism that surrounds us all every day. We must work at removing “lame” from our everyday language. But its modern-day usage is also incredibly harmful to the disability community. “Lame” is not an alternative to “disabled” because of the negative connotations connected to the word. When society uses the word “lame”, in any context, it solidifies these beliefs. These facts already make disabled people feel like outsiders. Oftentimes, disabled people are unable to participate in activities at the same pace and quantity as their non-disabled peers. Fitting in is hard, especially when you’re young and disabled. People with disabilities already shoulder feelings of shame and many feel like they are a burden to their families and friends. To link disability with weakness or undesirability is offensive.īut now, as a society, we are taking it a step further and equating a word that is meant to describe someone with a physical disability with being boring, uncool, frustrating, tiresome, etc. Many people, myself included, take serious issue with this definition. Over time, “lame” began to take on another meaning – weak and undesirable. In all of these languages, it essentially meant the same thing: weak-limbed, broken, and crippled. The word “lame” can be traced back to the Germanic, Dutch, and Old English languages in the late 14th century. Consider this blog post as me batting an eye.Īccording to the 3 dictionaries I checked, the primary meaning of “lame” is still, first and foremost, someone who is disabled. This means that someone, somewhere equated the actual definition of “lame” with its more colloquial meaning and we all just agreed to it without batting an eye. In fact, this common definition is referred to as slang. But, if you take notice of the definitions above, you’ll see that these synonyms are not the word’s true meanings. When you use the word “lame” to describe something, what do you usually mean? For me, “lame” always meant that something was boring or uncool. Definition Of “Lame”ġa: having a body part and especially a limb so disabled as to impair freedom of movementĢ: lacking needful or desirable substance : weak, ineffectual Today’s word is “lame.” Keep reading to learn why these words are inherently ableist and discover alternatives you can begin to use in their place. These posts will provide definitions, explanations, as well as alternative words and phrases to use in place of the one being examined. Every other week, I will be sharing a blog post that highlights one of the words from the downloadable glossary above.
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