differently abled
by Carl Willis on Jan 19, 2005 12:06:56
adj. Politically correct 1990s euphemism meaning "disabled". Contrary to what the words may suggest, "differently abled" does NOT mean "having different abilities;" more precisely it means "lacking expected abilities." Since
mental disability is generally associated with much more
social stigma than physical disability (and hence is ripe for being described by a "sensitive" PC vocabulary), "differently abled" is most frequently encountered in similar contexts as "special". With this in mind, persons of non-retarded status should
construe the phrase as a deep insult.
Example:
What the teacher thinks: "Goddamn, that was funny! Why do they insist on
mainstreaming these plainly retarded kids...they're so
distracting to my class..."
What the teacher says: "Class, you should be ashamed of yourselves for laughing when our differently abled peers gave their fine interpretation of
Hamlet."