Name it, claim it & then reclaim it if you have to~~

I was having a conversation with someone and I used the word cripple, which I often do as I prefer cripple over disabled, this someone who is not crippled herself had the nerve to try to school me about my “insensitive” use of the word. I hear disabled and I think a dead car on the side of the road waiting for a tow.

Here’s what Wiki had to say about cripple (in brief) ~ 

A cripple is a person or animal with a physical disability, particularly one who is unable to walk because of an injury or illness.

The word generally came to be regarded as pejorative when used for people, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada during the 1960s. Of late, however, some disabled people and disability activists have taken to using the word “cripple” for themselves in an attempt to “reclaim” the word from a historically prejudiced society, much like gays and blacks sometimes use “dyke” or “nigger” in this manner. In other English-speaking countries, the term is still widely used without pejorative connotations. Cripple is also a transitive verb, meaning “cause a disability or inability”.

Call it what you will, but don’t try to have me follow your lead.