Rizzo: He’s some kind of a blind fiend.
Gonzo: I believe they prefer visually challenged fiend.
At what point do I get to stop using modern euphemisms for things that have been said, with no bad connotations, for years? Where is the shame in having a condition where you cannot use your eyes to see called being “blind”? Is it really an insult to call someone who has trouble hearing “deaf”? Can anyone point to where using the old words, with some obvious exceptions such as outright slurs, is derogatory?
Larry Correia makes a good point when he says that due to his Portuguese ancestry, he’s “Hispanic”, but he’s as white as I am, so I guess that doesn’t count. I can see where someone whose ancestors greeted my ancestors when they got to Vinland objecting to being called “redskin”, or even “Indian”. They are neither. But “Aboriginal” or “Native American” is clunky. Would it be better if they said “Lakota” or “Blackfoot” instead? Can’t we just say “American” and force others to treat us in the manner that name demands?
And by the way, I’m not a Caucasian. I know people from the Caucasus, and they don’t look a heck of a lot like me. If I have to pick a description, I prefer “Barbarian American” or “Green Eyed Devil”, thank you very much.
DaddyBear’s Den 
auntiejl
/ November 8, 2014I have two thoughts about this:
One, if you are a part of the deaf community, there is a distinction between being “deaf” (born without any hearing) and “hard of hearing” (you lost most or all of your hearing due to illness, traumatic drum injury, that sort of thing). In that case, if you were to mix up the terms, I can see that being offensive.
However, given that you are not a part of the deaf community, and I only know this since I am acquainted with people who are, and most in the deaf community recognize that those outside it don’t understand their definitions within it, I doubt those I know would be offended by one of us mixing up their terms. I don’t see the term “deaf” as derogatory, and I don’t believe they do, either…unless there’s an accompanying sneer, in which case, I’d be hard pressed not to punch the idiot who’s trying to offend someone who can’t help their lack of hearing.
Two, my best friend is blind. She doesn’t care if you call her that. She knows she is. In fact, she and I often joke about “blindo” and “sighto” moments that we both have (in which we act stereotypically or stupidly blind or sighted, respectively). What bothers her is not the observation that she’s blind, but stupid questions by people who should know better if they’d actually used their brains first. “So, do you know ASL then?” Yeah, that’s a stupid question. It annoys her. (Although, she actually does know some of the alphabet signs, simply because she has a friend who is hard of hearing, and it amuses JJ to be able to tell people “Yes!” when they ask that question.) I once asked her an extremely personal question that I was afraid might offend her, and she laughed. I was genuinely trying to learn and understand, not mocking or failing to think.
But then, I also acknowledge that JJ is a very well-adjusted blind woman, and not all people who have lost their vision through accident, disease, or disorder will have her perspective on life. Not everyone will have her intolerance for politically-correct phrasing. I imagine the same holds true for those in the deaf community.
I don’t think the vast majority of people who do not suffer either from lack of sight or lack of hearing mean to offend by the simple terms that have been used for years, and I don’t think that those who are blind and deaf are then offended by the use of those terms, as long as they are used with respect and not derision.
I think the overall hypersensitivity and desire to avoid any semblance whatsoever of the possibility of potentially offending has turned our language into blithering idiocy.
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daddybear71
/ November 8, 2014I think you’re right. It seems to be those who want to define what is and is not offensive but are not part of the population they’re trying to ‘protect’ that make all the fuss.
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