Outdated mental illness terms being removed from law

Waterbury Republican-American ^ | May 9, 2007 | Julie Carr Smyth (A.P.)

[Red Badger]

A saucer short of a place setting.........

[mtbopfuyn]

I know quite a few lawyers who are imbeciles, lunatics and idiots.

[Red Badger]

It will never succeed. As soon as a new term such as "Challenged" or "Special", or "Gay" becomes widely used it becomes associated with the condition it describes, and becomes an insult.

Absolutely correct! However, the point is that in 10 years or so they get to do the "feel-good" thing all over again and thus make everybody "special".......

[CougarGA7]

Fear not. They just replaced all those words with the word “Democrat” since that makes it all encompassing.

[Enchante]

"Old-fashioned terms such as imbecile, lunatic and idiot"

Then there's the all-purpose term for moronic leftists...... DEMOCRAT

[andy58-in-nh]

The wheel’s spinning, but the hamster’s missing.

[sportutegrl]

A few panties short of a trousseau.

[Red Badger]

A electron short of an ion........

[Dr. Thorne]

Idiots! Morons! Imbeciles! Democrats!..............

Democrats? Why repeat yourself?

[Billthedrill]

These weren't only labels, three of them at least were originally quite a bit more structured than that, "moron," "imbecile," and "idiot" being gradations of IQ range, not judgmental terms. These days the catchall term "Democrat" suffices but it isn't nearly so granular.

But this is a perfect example of the attempt to address a problem by relabeling it. One can define mental deficiency out of existence but that doesn't actually place it out of existence. As Lincoln pointed out, calling a dog's tail a leg doesn't make it one. Such terminology changes serve no purpose toward their referents, but they do serve the purpose of empowering their PC proponents to correct the speech, and so they hope, the thought of others.

[DumpsterDiver]

Meanwhile, in New Hampshire Roberta Gallant is leading a campaign to remove the term "mental retardation" from the state's law books. Several other states, a few national organizations and other English-speaking countries have already replaced it with "intellectual disability," and Gallant and her peers want New Hampshire to follow suit.

"Mental retardation became a more sophisticated way of saying idiot and moron," said Jan Nisbet, director of the UNH Institute on Disability. "Because of the stigma associated with it, we began to culturally use those words to degrade people. We began to call people 'retards.' "

Terms like this matter, she said, because they're often linked to government-subsidized services. "If there was no funding tied to it, it might just be easier to say people have diverse learning abilities," she said. "Then people say, 'Well, who's going to get the funding?' "

snip

[reagan_fanatic]

Outdated mental illness terms being removed from law

That's retarded.

[Frank Sheed]

http://www.pcphrases.com/

[Red Badger]

To get their attention!........Attention Deficit Disorder, don’tcha know......

[Red Badger]

How about replacing them all with “Dee dee dee?

I RESEMBLE THAT REMARK!........

[OB1kNOb]

Old-fashioned terms such as imbecile, lunatic and idiot were purged Tuesday from the Ohio law books...

That's so gay!

[AngelesCrestHighway]

.... Both “idiots” and “insane persons” are banned from voting in the Ohio Constitution, first written in 1802, and changing that document would require a constitutional amendment....Democrats can’t vote in Ohio? What a shame.

[cornelis]

This is the age of the acronym. The only talk PC is with acronyms. It’s called MR.

[Yo-Yo]

Redundant picture title.

[corbie]

another wonderful liberal initiative: change the words, rather than address the problem!

what you name an issue becomes more important than how you deal with it.

“stupid is as stupid does”—the lesson from Forrest Gump
“stupid does as stupid is”—slogan, Democratic-controlled Congress, 2007

seems as if we deperately need some sort of coup to remove these parsifying, historically challenged from office.

In the mean time—it’s lock and load!