Is the word "autistic" going to go the way of "ret*d"?

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Will the word "autistic" eventually be considered offensive, in need of replacement and referred to as the "A word"?

I don't think so. I don't consider it offensive. Being autistic doesn't intrinsically mean anything bad. The r word, on the other hand, is offensive because it implies that one is inferior.

Probably, because autistic people are discriminated against and a lot of people seem to believe that you can cure discrimination by simply changing the name of the discriminated-against group.

The word Autistic is used as an insult on some forums instead of the word Trolling. I've seen mods post in threads things like "User was banned for autism".

Unfortunately, I think it might. People seem to be using the word “autistic” to describe behavior they find weird or stupid much more frequently in recent years. I think with more public awareness comes more people using it as a slur or with a negative connotation. I don’t think it is a widely recognized as a slur yet as “ret*d,” but based on my experience dealing with some ridiculous, toxic teenagers all day long at school, lamentably I think it may be going in that direction at least to some extent .

I think its more like the term Spaz than ret*d. It doesn't really bother me though.

I'm surprised it hasn't already. I'm expecting it to be replaced by something like, socioneurospectral divergence.

Hopefully not. Its a perfectly fine word.

But it probably will be replaced by some euphemism, that will itself become an insult, to be replaced by another euphemism, that will...

If we let it.

I think that word will eventually go that way.

I know I've said it before, but the problem is "autistic" has 2 definitions; The non-psychiatric one being a reference to "selfishness". Worse is that recently the two are being entirely conflated into a single broad sweeping insult.

The term may be pressed out of usage because it's hopelessly entangled with definition #2.

Eventually? Now. People call each other autistic as an insult now. That doesn't change what it means to actually have autism, but it's annoying and adds to the stigma.

Even if it becomes a slur I will continue to use it for myself. I still use ret*d as well to describe parts of myself. I have no problem using the words since I use them to mean what they actually mean and not as slurs. When I speak of others who have an ID I say Intellectual disability or ID but when I talk about myself and my emotional and social abilities I always say emotionally and socially ret*d.

Perhaps as an insult, but "autistic" is a legitimate medical term that would be harder to phase out than "ret*d."