Kim E., Lauren Lemon, Jessie Harper, Hannah Foleck (writer)
Kim: body positivity movement, getting rid of the negative connotations around words like fat, and being used just as an adjective, same time as the disabilities movement and the body positivity movement, fetishizatiion around the two groups at the same time?
Jessie: All bodies are beautiful, body positivity started in the 1960s, right around the exact same time as the disability movement
Kim: Depending on if fat people will lose weight similar to the kill or cure, people with disabilities are only accepted if they die or can be cured, getting rid of the idea that it is taboo to talk about these things.
Jessie: very social media based, acceptance has come out as we can see people who are physically different from us being very similar to us in our souls. Nice words vs nasty words, is the word special part of the nice words.
Hannah: special used to be a nice word, but today it has been turned around and used against people who are different from you
Kim: ties into the infantilization of people with disabilities, seen as children their whole lives. All of the nice words are being called that from non-disabled people, not taking into perspective the feelings and ideas of disabled people
Jessie: it fees correct but did you ask anyone who is disabled, “isn’t that special” being turned into “isn’t that dumb”
Lauren: It’s not always visible, making sure the nice words are a part of your normal vocabulary not just specializing how you talk about people based on who you are around
Kim: language is fluctuating, what is PC has changed over the years and learning which words are ok and not ok.
Jessie: the first rule should just be to ask, ask your questions respectfully and learn the right ways to treat respect each person on an individual basis
Kim: retaking over these words and making them into prideful words, disabled people need to be a part of the conversation, outsiders tend to run the conversation and talk over people with disabilities.
Hannah: Invalid vs Invaild, calling people with disabilities literally invalid by naming them something like that.
Kim: We still today have forced sterilization of people with disabilites literally keeping them from reproducing, treating them as less than human in one of the most basic ways.
Jessie: seeing people as invalid dehumanizes them even to the people who see them as valuable
Kim: testing to see if your baby has disabilities before they are born, can be used to help parents prepare for the financial hardships that that may entail, but this can be taken and used to get rid of babies with disabilities before they are even born, can be used in a very gross way but hopefully gets used in a better way to help prepare
In the 60s and then resurgence when medicare was slashed, disabled people protesting now for the same things they were protesting for 60 years ago, it sucks to see people fighting for the same things that they have been for years.
