You know, the kids this year, I feel like they're less woke. Did you notice that? They're not into being woke anymore.

It's circled back around. And now they're like four, what they say they're against?

Right. And they're saying the R word again.

Much like FX's English teacher, I've noticed an uptick in a term I thought was long gone, at least in polite conversation.

The R word.

It's always kind of been on the current on social media.

It's always been kind of thrown around.

Generally speaking, I usually see these upticks when it comes to relation to politics.

Disability advocate and content creator Imani Barbaran, aka Crutches and Spice on TikTok.

Thank you so much for having me. Notice this a few years ago. I noticed that the R word had come back. I want to say in full force around midterm elections in 2022. A lot of times, anybody who displays what we consider deviant behavior, whether that be

political opinions that may not agree with the status quo or, you know, societally, we cast them out

using able-s language. As someone who was a young person in the early 2000s, I remember campaigns

telling people how harmful the word is.

And it's not acceptable to call me a retard or call yourself or your friends retarded

when they do so be foolish.

And why we should be more aware of the way it can hurt our most vulnerable populations.

But it's more than that.

Because disability is so often forgotten, people don't really realize how effective it is.

It's not even just the words themselves, it is the sentiment behind them a lot of the time.

And you don't even necessarily need to use the R word to wield power against another person.

Abelism isn't just found in our language.

It's found in our policies and systems as well.

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