Content: obsessive compulsive disorder, death, overdose Sometimes it takes a tragic or painful event for us to realize how hurtful a word can really be. I used to use phrases like, "oh, I'm so OCD about that", all the time, until this happened: I had a friend who was on medication to help address their obsessive-compulsive disorder. (OCD) This friend ultimately overdosed on their medication as a result of the disorder, and died. It took something of this magnitude to illuminate why we shouldn't use words like this lightly. When we use terms like OCD, PTSD, ADD/ADHD, etc., out of their proper context, it lessens their impact and undermines real experiences. It can also make it harder for us to be up front about experiencing these things ourselves, or to recognize when someone is earnestly expressing their needs associated with these conditions or disorders. This story is paraphrased from one shared at our 4/7/2022 discussion on bigoted language and is shared with permission.
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discussion recapContent: language, racism, ableism, bigotry Our April discussion focused on words and phrases with bigoted origins or which have developed these conations through general use. These words may seem innocuous to people who do not have direct, lived experiences with them (e.g. a Black person always seeing the color black used as an indicator of evil in fantasy). Our primary takeaways from the discussion are:
Tactics for change:
resourcesOur spreadsheet of words and phrases, their history, and resources is available via Google Drive. If you have recommendations for additions or edits, please send them to us. upcomingOur May 5, 2022 discussion will be about "calling out" and "calling in." More soon.
We will be posting more in April sharing specific stories and examples from this month's discussion, as well as alternative phrases for two extremely common words: "crazy" and "guys". Thank you so much for a wonderful discussion! |
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