Over the past few years, Brittany has noticed the resurgence of the R-word - a word that otherwise left the cultural lexicon. And while that's troubling in and of itself, its return may also have larger implications that affect policy, culture, and how we treat each other. Disability advocate Imani Barbarin joins the show to break down how ableism can take root in casual conversation, and why words matter. Support public media and receive ad-free listening & bonus content. Join NPR+ today.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What is the R-word and why is it back?
Right, and they're saying the R word again.
Much like FX's English teacher, I've noticed an uptick in a term I thought was long gone, at least in polite conversation. The R-word.
It's always kind of been an undercurrent on social media. It's always been kind of thrown around. Generally speaking, I just see these upticks when it comes to relational politics.
Disability advocate and content creator Imani Barbarin, a.k.a. Crutches and Spice on TikTok. Thank you so much for having me. Noticed this a few years ago.
I noticed that the R word had come back, I want to say, in full force around midterm elections in 2022. A lot of times, anybody who displays what we consider deviant behavior, whether that be political opinions that may not agree with the status quo or, you know, societally, We cast them out using ableist language.
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Chapter 2: How can language perpetuate ableism?
As someone who was a young person in the early 2000s, I remember campaigns telling people how harmful the word is.
It is not acceptable to call me a retard or call yourself or your friends retarded when they do something foolish.
And why we should be more aware of the way it can hurt our most vulnerable populations. But it's more than that.
Because disability is so often forgotten, people don't really realize how effective it is. It's not even just the words themselves. It is the sentiment behind them a lot of the time. And you don't even necessarily need to use the R word to wield power against another person.
Ableism isn't just found in our language. It's found in our policies and systems as well. And when disability or the implication of a disability is attached to someone or a group of people, the consequences can be dire.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of ableist language?
One of the big examples that I try to give people are conservatorships and guardianships.
I mean, you know, there's a case to be made that the way we use and wield language, that can be the butterfly wings that turns into the tsunami of like, you know, free Britney.
But yeah, but you know what the weirdest thing is? Now that Britney Spears has her freedom and acts the way that she wants to, now what are people saying? Oh, well, maybe that conservatorship wasn't a bad idea.
Today, Imani joins me to get into how she thinks ableism has shaped our political and legal landscape and why the R word is just the tip of the iceberg.
I think what it really does boil down to is some of our insults towards each other have their own basis in disability. For like the word idiot described people that were public charges that weren't capable enough to live on their own and handle their own affairs. However, were disabled enough that the community had to take care of them.
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Chapter 4: How does ableism affect political discourse?
So to describe people who were unable or who were deemed unable to take care of themselves, idiot was one of the words used.
Another one is lame. Like you can find lame in the Bible. Jesus healed the lame man. And that's always kind of been back and forth as a descriptor for disability. And additionally, it's not just like a language thing. It's structural. Like when we look at anti-trans legislation,
you can see that they put the provision to have trans people tested for autism because if they're then diagnosed with autism, they are seen as less capable of handling their own medical affairs and could potentially be put in things like conservatorships and guardianships which then could impact their ability to vote.
Because in about seven states, there are restrictions on people in conservatorships and guardianships voting. The attachment of things to disability has always kept people and their rights on the chopping block for a very long time. We talk about Buck v. Bell and sterilization and
For listeners, Buck v. Bell was a 1927 Supreme Court case that upheld, quote, a state's right to forcibly sterilize a person considered unfit to procreate, which included those who they deemed, quote unquote, mentally deficient.
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Chapter 5: What historical context surrounds the R-word?
And whenever we decide we want to insult somebody or throw hate to somebody, we attach them to a disability, regardless of whether or not they have one. Even if it's not just saying the word, we see this a lot when it comes to political conversations around competency in office, right?
A lot of people want to attach our elected leaders to disabilities to say that they are not capable of being elected leaders. Now, whether or not you agree with them is immaterial. It's the fact that people see disability as one of the most discounting things and a way to take somebody out of the conversation or out of the discourse or out of the power that they have already.
Could you give an example or two of that?
Oh, my goodness. Joe Biden all the time. People have always said, oh, you know, he's cognitively impaired. And whether or not he is, isn't material to the fact that, like, you could talk about his policies. You could talk about anything. People see that conversation around competency as a reason why he shouldn't be elected official.
Donald Trump, similarly, the kind of this bumbling fool kind of caricature that we have of this man who was still competent enough to get elected a second time.
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Chapter 6: How does disability intersect with policy making?
When we were preparing for this conversation, as we've been looking into the increased usage of the R word, I came across this concept called the euphemism treadmill. It was introduced by this researcher and scholar named Steven Pinker in a 1994 New York Times op-ed. And I will say, he seemed to have a somewhat cynical view of the utility of the euphemism treadmill.
Basically, the R word used to be a part of I believe like medical terminology, a diagnosis. Yes, it was. And then it gets that negative connotation, almost like because of our society's attitudes about disability, then the word becomes an insult. It becomes tarnished.
But what he talks about with the euphemism treadmill is that eventually it becomes an insult and then it becomes unspeakable and then it's banished from polite conversation. What feels notable with the R word is that It seems to be running backward on the euphemism treadmill. I can't think of many other words coming back.
What I find with ableism is that because it can be applied so widely, it never really goes away. When we think of specific insults for certain groups, certain slurs for certain groups of people, they're only applicable to that group of people. True. When we think of the N-word, it's only applicable to Black people.
Like, effectively, when we think of other insults for different communities, they're only applicable to those groups of people. But for disability, because you don't have to be disabled to experience ableism, it's applied to everyone.
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Chapter 7: What examples illustrate ableism in politics?
When we think about something becoming so out of the realm of possibility for something to say, being so insulting that nobody wants to say it, it almost never includes disabled people. One of the reasons why is because we don't talk to disabled people as a society.
About disabled people.
We talk around disabled people. We talk to family members. We talk to medical professionals. We talk to policymakers. And only in recent memory do we actually talk directly to disabled people like they are adults, like we are a group of people willing to have a conversation with rather than everybody talking around us.
in this paternalistic manner, telling us what we should and shouldn't want for ourselves, right? And so when we talk about the R word, do they trust us enough to say that this is something we don't want to hear?
Coming up.
No diagnosis has automatically made you racist. And the flip side of that, which is very frustrating, is that there are people who genuinely believe that racism should be treated like a diagnosis.
More on how disability, racism, and whiteness are intertwined. I wonder, do you see it as a part of a wave of mainstreaming of offensive language or gestures more broadly? Like I'm thinking about Kanye West and the way that people talk about Kanye West's mental illicit diagnosis. I don't know all the details of his medical history, but...
When he says things that are anti-Semitic or deeply misogynistic or racist and anti-Black, people will be like, oh, this is a part of his diagnoses. On one hand, as you've described, I can think of a bunch of examples of disability being used as a reason why someone should not be believed or shouldn't be able to make decisions on their own. But
It seems like there are people who are willing to use disability as a means of making an excuse for behavior that many people see as racist or antisemitic.
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