Q:"Whether I personally have a disability is not something I am required to publicly disclose in order to have a perspective. I mean, really? Is that a precedent you want to set?"

"Well, I use paki as a term of endearment! Just because I'm white doesn't mean I don't get to have a perspective on it."

Not that I think you're on that level. But to paraphrase Himanshu Suri, when a person from a minority group tells me a word/action is oppressive, I generally think that they have a better perspective on it than I. In any case, I think yr underestimating yr priviledge a little there.

jrantisexleague

This was my bad — I should have phrased that differently so folks would better understand my emphasis on the first part. 

My point, to be clear, is that I am extremely resistant to the idea that anyone should be forced or otherwise compelled to disclose a disability or mental illness. The suggestion in the OP was that “unless you have a disability, your opinion doesn’t count”, which I have no problem with as a general rule. However, I have big big problems with the OP’s demanding my disclosure.

Now, folks may be more likely to dismiss perspectives given without such a public disclosure. And that’s fine. But I think point-blank asking someone HOW ARE YOU DISABLED THEN is really inappropriate. 

At no point have I said I did not trust the perspective of anyone who finds the word “stupid” to be oppressive. I have, in fact, tried in every response to acknowledge that different individuals would have very different and better-informed perspectives than mine. Indeed I have asked for them, repeatedly.

Asking for them, however, does not mean instantaneously processing, understanding, and accepting them. This is one of my MANY limitations, and one which drives my husband up the wall. I am a very slow thinker.

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  1. theoryofgravity posted this