Im ret*d

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but im not ret*d

I don't understand.

I think but not sure what the OP was saying by saying I'm ret*d then saying I'm not ret*d is like many autistics including myself that we many times have amazing intellectual abilities along with an amazing degree of intelectual & cognitive disabilities. I prefer though not to use the word ret*d to discribe anyone as it sends a negative message of self worth. I only used it as a quote from the OP.

I personally have an exceptional mechanical comprehension but can't really make good use of it in a practical sense due to executive disfunction & poor working memory & short term memory. Yet I can have a conversation about the mechanical aspects of physics with a friend of mine that has had 9 years of college level physics & sometimes even win those arguments with him. This is true even though he has used his knowledge of physisc all his adult life.

In spite of this I still can not work as a mechanic in a shop in a competitive environment because I'm too slow & have difficulty remembering one step to anouther & my poor eye hand coordination makes me drop wrenches when trying to work in tight areas & a host of other issues due to the stress of the competitve environment.

...Has the phrase " ret*d " , as an " official medical term " , been retired ?

I think the phrase "mentally ret*d" was a medical term describing someone who was intellectually disabled. Unfortunately, enough people started using it as an insult, when it was a real medical term to describe a very real disability.

When I was a kid, "mentally ret*d" was the proper way to describe such a person.

...Likewise . Howevs , I rather recall hearing that slangy meaning of " ret*d " on the first Beastie Boys and Salt'n'Pepa albums , about 1987 .

Yes, it's been an insult for some time. Then I believe "mentally challenged" was the preferred term, and now I hear "intellectually disabled."

The problem is, that no matter what term is used, people are likely going to start using it as an insult, and a new term will need to be created.

"Moron", "imbecile", and "idiot" were proper medical terms at one time for different levels of intellectual disability, now they only are used to insult a person's intelligence.

Although the term mentally ret*d was applied clinically in the 20th century, it is not applied clinically in the 21st century. These days ret*d is a slang term for stupid. Such as a situation can be called ret*d. But that does not mean someone is saying that the situation is intellectually disabled, because that would not make any sense.

The word ret*d is also used to insult someone. But then again so is the word genius. As is "way to go genius" as a way of calling someone stupid or incompetent. So basically the OP is saying they are both competent and incompetent or both capable and incapable. Or at least that's my take.

The word idiot I think was a much worse term used in the olden days. Such as the term idiot savant. But people these days get much less riled up, or not at all, over the word idiot than they do over the word ret*d.

The word dumb used to mean mute. Someone who was a deaf mute was called deaf and dumb. Now dumb just means stupid.

And like I said, the word idiot was once applied to people with autism, as in idiot savant.

Up until sometime in the early 20th century, three terms, now obviously insulting, were used clinically.

They were: Idiot -- For severe and profound intellectual challenges
Imbecile -- moderate intellectual challenges
Moron -- mild intellectual challenges.

Yes, all three were actual clinical terms used by doctors!

"Mentally ret*d" was an official diagnosis until about the 1980s, maybe the early 1990s. I'll have to look up the DSM III to see if was still a diagnosis then. Under the DSM IV, certainly not.

It has been used as a slang term/insult for many, many years.

I did not know about imbecile and moron. So out of at least 6 words from the last century, ret*d is the only one that angers people so much. Interesting.

I think it's because "ret*d" implies that someone is hopelessly stupid, and can never improve upon their stupidity. It's something that's permanent.

"Moron" is also a common insult, so is "idiot." You occasionally do hear people refer to somebody else as an "imbecile."

These days, "idiot" is more of a general term for somebody who is hopelessly incompetent. It does imply that a person could improve, with effort, upon his/her idiocy, though.

Calling someone a "moron" implies that the person doesn't use his/her head enough, yet can do better if he/she uses his/her head.

<--- Social ret*d. (Hey, at least you know he'll never crash your party).

<--- Most people describe us as social ret*ds

Sadly, I agree with Yigeren - no community of differently able people is ever immune from having their terms of reference hijacked for use as a playground insult.

My impression is that the use of 'ret*d(ed)' as an insult is relatively recent here in the UK - encouraged, no doubt, by its widespread use in the comments sections of internet blogs and forums.

When I was a kid, back in the late '70s and early '80s, the most common such insults that I heard were surprisingly specific terms, still in common use by the medical profession. "Mongoloid" (originally a term for trisomy-21/Down's syndrome) and "Spastic" (Cerebral Palsy) were the most common - so much so that the charity formerly called the 'sp****cs Society' changed it's name in the '80's to try and avoid the negative connotations of the word.

For a short time, the insult "Joey" was even common - so called after a man called Joey Deacon, born with cerebral palsy, who's life was documented on a popular kids TV show in the UK to increase awareness of disability issues. Imagine that - having one's own name use country wide in such a way!

We can only hope that "Aspie" or "Autistic" don't end up going the same way.