Author Archives: Elysse Cloma

Social Justice Synonyms #18: “Crippled” and “Paralyzed”

Filed under Disability Justice & Mental Health, Social Justice Synonyms   ·   March 7th, 2015   ·   3 comments

Generally, using the words “crippled” and “paralyzed” to refer to people with disabilities is impolite. However, they’re still being used to describe impairment, whether it’s in the media, daily conversations, or pop culture. It is not uncommon to encounter a news headline that reads something along the lines of, “Basketball team suffers crippling loss at […]