To think that calling someone "spa***c" is offensive?

If you read the OP 's updates, the person was in the US where the history and usage of the word is very different.

Of course it's horribly offensive in the UK, but in the US it has never been used for people with cerebral palsy (or any other disability).

Deeply offensive. The person must live under a rock not to know that.

I have Cerebral Palsy so this word makes me shudder. It is a medical term which literally applies to me, but was frequently used by bullies.
It's really offensive to me to see the word to describe behaviour or personality..

Why has my post been hidden? I was commenting on the different history of the word as used in the US, and that it is becoming less acceptable.

I was at school with a girl who had cerebral palsy in the 90s, in continental Europe. I was telling my British husband how brilliantly my school dealt with diversity, "they got this spastic girl to give a chat in assembly so everyone understood why she had certain adaptations". He was beyond horrified and told me it was an incredibly offensive word. I could tell he was shocked I'd used it. Thing is, it was a direct translation from my home language, and my class mate used to tell people she was spastic. In my home country it was used as a descriptor, not as an insult. I've never used the word since finding out how offensive it is in the UK.

I guess what I am trying to say is that context matters a lot with these things. That said, "being very spastic" sounds inconsiderate regardless of context, to put it mildly...

Spastic or "spaz" does not resonate the same way in the US as it does in the UK; it is more like using the word "idiot." There are a lot of reasons for this, one of which is that "spastic" was never generally used in the US for cerebral palsy as it was in the UK. With more globalized discussion, however, more people understand its wider connotations, and it is becoming less acceptable in the US.

I was expelled from a Facebook group for politely pointing out that it’s an offensive term.

There are worse words used to refer to disabled people (I’ve seen the worst one used on this site and was horrified) but I feel it’s unacceptable to use derogatory language where others might be upset by it, even if you might not usually regard a word as offensive in your local culture.

Being aware of other people’s life experiences and how language might have been used against them in the past is a good thing I think, but sadly not everyone on social media does it.

My daughter was excluded from secondary school in year 10 for using the word, and that was 11 years ago!

Yes and the title and OP are different. Going spastic may be a medical term.

These threads are annoying.
the op knows it’s offensive (why else would they ask)
Of course it’s offensive.
I hate it when people pretend it isn’t.
my now adult child has had that word used to bully them.
not because they are disabled, but because their sibling is.

Gypsy/gypo is used a a derogatory term. Much as spastic was, hence the reason Scope changed their name. The Gypsy, Roma and Traveller advisory groups in the UK recognise the differences between the three ethnicities. You can't argue the semantics of using their own name.

Thanks @IglooLists and @betterangels !

Luckily he's a very confident and happy boy so far. But I just know that one day his bubble will be burst. However I think he will be resilient and fingers crossed he will have a great time at secondary 🤞

I've told him that if anyone says that, they are extremely silly, because they are describing his muscles and how can he 'be' his muscles. He agrees. Also he says that if anyone calls him 'weird' he will say 'thankyou! I like being weird!'

Love this. I hope school his kind to him, and he keeps his spark ❤️

My son has cerebral palsy and has spasticity in his arms and legs. He's starting secondary school in September, and I have been trying to prepare him for the inevitable bullying by telling him that some children may call him a spastic.

I've told him that if anyone says that, they are extremely silly, because they are describing his muscles and how can he 'be' his muscles. He agrees. Also he says that if anyone calls him 'weird' he will say 'thankyou! I like being weird!'.

Everyone at primary school has been so lovely to him so I am dreading his first bad experience.

Obviously, because she is likely not to be ignorant of current medical terminology.

Name calling is supposed to be offensive isn't it, that's the point?

I have noticed a come back of medical terms as insults. As well as "spastic/spazz", "mong' seems to be a thing again, and I have seen "cretin" a lot on twitter/X. 😔

Wow, that's a very 80s insult! I didn't even realise people used it these days. It was out of favour as a medical terrible back in the 80s.

Just because in the US people don't think it's offensive, it doesn't mean it isn't. Where do you think they got the word from and it's not used in a complimentary way is it? As somebody else said, it's a term that comes from a disability and is used to describe someone behaving in an undesirable way. When it was used as an insult when I was young, it wasn't used to mean someone was having muscle spasms, it was to liken someone to a person with a learning disability, so it didn't really make sense, but the intention was clear.

Happy days 😕

stokesauce they were 11/12 years old 😖

As someone with CP I find the word very upsetting, I understand Americans use it differently, but it makes me flinch still