this post was submitted on 30 May 2026
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Autism

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How to you feel about using autism as a joking synonym for "dumb" or "awkward"? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 4 days ago by Alvaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/autism@lemmy.world
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I have been struggling with this because a lot of people around me use it in this manner when they do something dumb or they act in an awkward way and they'll be like "oh, that was autistic of me" or "I've got the tism" and I always feel so uncomfortable but I also don't know how to raise it or what to say. I am myself not diagnosed, but I'm pretty sure I am on the spectrum. I was just wondering what you think of it and how you handle it.

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[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Every word that was used to refer to someone with some form of mental difference has been turned into an insult. At a certain point you need to just get over it.

Dumb, idiot, imbecile, slow, retard, etc were all originally used to refer to people with legitimate mental health issues and have been turned into insults and are now considered rude to say.

It doesn't matter what word you come up with to try to "fix" this is going to happen.