Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion DD is SUCH a spaz...

I don't think it's a difference in usage as much as more awareness and activism in one country as opposed to another. Like how the R word used to be used this way in the US and now isn't any more because people have become aware.

I'm in NZ. I don't find spaz particularly offensive but as an adult I wouldn't use it.

Yes. Most people in the disability community would regard it as equally offensive to the R word.

Which one? "Retard" has long been used as an insult, but "retardate" was used for even longer as a technical term for people who are mentally retarded, as can be verified by searching "retardate" in Google Scholar. The scientists who published papers about the mentally retarded were trying to help them. Sensitivity about language can be carried too far.

Well, mental retardation is not in the DSM-V, so it's dead and buried along with Asperger's syndrome.

As I have had to explain to clients, "I am trying to prove that your son is mentally retarded. I don't care if you don't like that phrase, because that is what I need to prove. If he is mentally retarded, he wins. If he is not mentally retarded, he loses. You don't get a vote on the words I have to use."

At least I don't have to say that anymore.

I've also had opposing counsel complain about how many times I used that phrase in a brief.

Opposing counsel's brief in that particular case was determined to be somewhat unpersuasive.

No, it really is a difference in usage. Until quite recently, "spastic" was a commonly used term in the UK for cerebral palsy. In the U.S., "spaz" became detached from its etymology decades ago. More here.