# Handicapped people: Do you find "lame" as a synonym for "not cool" offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 16, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636 "2011-04-16T18:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/21 "2011-04-18T00:19:12Z")
I think more people with disabilities would have a problem with the word “handicapped” than with the word “lame”. But that may be a UK thing, depends on the individual, may depend on the disability, etc… > [@Grumman](#): > > That sounds like an easy way to slash the cost of health insurance. I call it the “Just Because You Have A Bullet In Your Lung Doesn’t Mean You Need Surgery” school of healthcare reform. **SecondJudith** specifically referred to the UK, where for general purposes “health insurance” is not an issue for anyone with a disability. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/22 "2011-04-18T01:34:47Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I think you need to distinguish between different disabilities. A friend of mine is in a wheelchair with a congenital disability; I won’t name it as it’s rare enough to identify her. But since that has been her condition since birth, and is an integral part of who she is and (this is the important part): she is perfectly healthy, she would not want to be “cured.” Many people in the (d/D)eaf community feel the same. This is a completely different situation from someone who becomes paralyzed in an accident and then uses a wheelchair (or loses hearing), and both of those are different from someone who has a progressive disease like MS or old-age-induced hearing loss. No, it isn’t different. Disability is disability. She is not “perfectly healthy”; a perfectly healthy person can walk. And the “Deaf” community are an example of what I was talking about earlier; advocates preserving a disability to preserve their position. Being unable to walk is a bad thing. Going blind is a bad thing. Getting old is a bad thing. All are unhealthy states, and all should be cured if we know how. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/23 "2011-04-18T02:08:05Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > But since that has been her condition since birth, and is an integral part of who she is and (this is the important part): she is perfectly healthy, she would not want to be “cured.” Many people in the (d/D)eaf community feel the same. Then these people are idiots in addition to being lame. Don’t they realize the inconvenience and economic loss that they cause the majority of people? The ADA is a major travesty. And I’m not whooshing anyone, or trying to be a jerk. It’s a question of use, need, and Pareto rankings. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/24 "2011-04-18T02:10:33Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No, it isn’t different. Disability is disability. She is not “perfectly healthy”; a perfectly healthy person can walk. And the “Deaf” community are an example of what I was talking about earlier; advocates preserving a disability to preserve their position. > > Being unable to walk is a bad thing. Going blind is a bad thing. Getting old is a bad thing. All are unhealthy states, and all should be cured if we know how. I beg your pardon. I know her, you don’t. “Perfectly” may have been a poor word choice, but she is in fact healthy, and the statement “a healthy person can walk” is opinion, not fact. You might as well say she’s not healthy because she doesn’t have a penis, or isn’t white. Her mind and body are sound and not diseased. I think you’d be surprised at the number of old people who don’t find getting old a bad thing, and the number of disabled people for whom disability is an inconvenience but not a disease to be cured. As I said, it’s not the case for all the disabled, and I’m not saying it should be, but I think you should respect the judgement of the people who live within disabled bodies and not speak for them without at least listening a bit first. And for Balthisar: my friend works full time, owns a house, and does not take government money for her disability-related expenses. She is exceptional in that regard, it’s true, but I think a model that shows it can be done. She benefits from the ADA, but so will you should you live to be elderly. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/25 "2011-04-18T02:15:35Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > the statement “a healthy person can walk” is opinion, not fact. … buh? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/26 "2011-04-18T02:31:06Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > … buh? Meaning, it depends on your definition of “health.” I would say that someone who is not sick or in pain is healthy. You might say that someone who is not sick or in pain but cannot walk is unhealthy. I think you can make an argument for either case. Your average six-month-old can’t walk, either, though obviously that’s a temporary state and neither disability nor ill health. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/27 "2011-04-18T02:35:41Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > and the statement “a healthy person can walk” is opinion, not fact. You might as well say she’s not healthy because she doesn’t have a penis, or isn’t white. Her mind and body are sound and not diseased. If her body can’t walk, it isn’t sound. Having a vagina instead of a penis isn’t a pathological condition; being unable to walk is pathological regardless of whether or not you were born that way. It isn’t a matter of “opinion”. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I think you’d be surprised at the number of old people who don’t find getting old a bad thing, and the number of disabled people for whom disability is an inconvenience but not a disease to be cured. That doesn’t make them right. It just means they’ve been fed nonsense of the “suffering and death are noble” variety so long that they believe it regardless of the harm it does to them. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > As I said, it’s not the case for all the disabled, and I’m not saying it should be, but I think you should respect the judgement of the people who live within disabled bodies and not speak for them without at least listening a bit first. You speak as if I hadn’t heard this nonsense before. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/28 "2011-04-18T03:02:25Z")
This discussion seems very either/or! Pondering… I’m partially colour-blind. As a result I cannot be employed to do certain jobs. Do I have a “disability”? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/29 "2011-04-18T03:09:34Z")
We can only talk of a human being healthy but unable to walk because of our own blinders when it comes to the species we happen to belong to. If anyone showed you a dog or horse that couldn’t walk, no one would say that animal was healthy. You might say “other than their disability, the animal is in good health” or you may even just say “they’re in good health” with the _understanding_ that you’re talking about their health _other_ than the fact they can’t walk like healthy animals of their species can. To me, being unable to walk isn’t a state that allows a member of homo sapiens to operate in a manner consistent with the norms of their species, so I can’t call a person who can’t walk “perfectly healthy.” Can they do many things that fully abled humans can? Sure, but that’s because of technological adaptations. Part of being a healthy human is being able to get around using the two legs we have for that very reason. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/30 "2011-04-18T04:51:35Z")
> [@A.Gwilliam](#): > > I’m partially colour-blind. As a result I cannot be employed to do certain jobs. Do I have a “disability”? Yes. A minor one compared to being totally blind or your legs not working, but still a disability. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/31 "2011-04-18T06:19:37Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > I thought it might be a whoosh, but I’ve seen people get pissed over some things I think are completely innocent. Those people are f’n lame. 😃 iawtc > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I think that there is an important difference. On the whole, gays want homosexuality to be considered normal and healthy. On the other hand, most lame people would prefer that their leg(s) were fixed _right now_. As Socrates said; we don’t have to explain that it is desirable to be healthy, it is self-evident. This is what bothers me about attempting to extrapolate abusive racial or cultural language concerns to “ableism” concerns. It’s genuinely offensive to consistently assume that Chinese or Negroes are inferior, & words like “nigger-rigged” are considered ill-advised for this reason. LGBTQ types understandably are annoyed at any conflation of terms for them with terms of contempt. But using disability terms in a metaphorical sense should not be disparaged. There are legitimate metaphorical senses to “blind,” “deaf,” “short-sighted,” “tunnel vision,” “tone-deaf,” “crippled,” & various synonyms for “crazy.” “Impotent,” “weak,” & “stuttering,” for example, have literal uses not indicating human disability. As for the slang use of “lame” for uncool, unfunkified, contemptible, well, it’s a metaphor too, perhaps. Being lame is pretty uncool. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/32 "2011-04-18T11:34:02Z")
I use “lame”, thought I usually wish I haven’t as soon as the word is out of my mouth. BTW, being deprived of “normal” sensory activity or the ability to walk comfortably unaided IS a disability, and don’t let anyone fool you otherwise! ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/33 "2011-04-18T11:39:01Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I use “lame”, thought I usually wish I haven’t as soon as the word is out of my mouth. BTW, being deprived of “normal” sensory activity or the ability to walk comfortably unaided IS a disability, and don’t let anyone fool you otherwise! Yeah, those disabled people, always trying to _trick_ us “normal” people with their _opinions on their own lives and experiences_ and everything! ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/34 "2011-04-18T12:07:32Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > Yeah, those disabled people, always trying to _trick_ us “normal” people with their _opinions on their own lives and experiences_ and everything! Judy, IMO people with disabilities live in this culture too. As such, they absorb the messages, good and bad, that society is trying to feed them. They, once again IMO, have been conditioned to ignore their reality because society doesn’t want to acknowledge the issues these people face in life. ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/35 "2011-04-18T13:10:24Z")
Are you joking? The predominant social message to people with disabilities is nothing but “oh, what a terrible tragedy your disability is” and “what a burden you are for your family” and “what a shame you aren’t normal like the rest of us”. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/36 "2011-04-18T13:39:07Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > Are you joking? The predominant social message to people with disabilities is nothing but “oh, what a terrible tragedy your disability is” and “what a burden you are for your family” and “what a shame you aren’t normal like the rest of us”. I guess I didn’t explain myself all that well! :smack: Your post is EXACTLY what I was trying to convey! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/37 "2011-04-18T16:55:12Z")
I’ve known disabled people (or their caretakers) who object to the use of “retarded” but not to “lame.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2011, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636/38 "2011-04-20T08:32:35Z")
Yeah, I dislike people using “retarded” loosely. It doesn’t mean silly-looking, nor awkward, it means slowed, delayed, arrested… But slang “lame” just seems like a slang word to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/handicapped-people-do-you-find-lame-as-a-synonym-for-not-cool-offensive/578636.md?page=1)