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[serrena_de_singe]

Cerebral palsy is an umbrella-like term used to describe a group of chronic disorders impairing control of movement that appear in the first few years of life and generally do not worsen over time. The disorders are caused by faulty development of or damage to motor areas in the brain that disrupts the brain's ability to control movement and posture. Symptoms of cerebral palsy include difficulty with fine motor tasks (such as writing or using scissors), difficulty maintaining balance or walking, involuntary movements. The symptoms differ from person to person and may change over time. Some people with cerebral palsy are also affected by other medical disorders, including seizures or mental impairment, but cerebral palsy does not always cause profound handicap. Early signs of cerebral palsy usually appear before 3 years of age.  
Source:  http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cerebral_palsy/cerebral_palsy.htm


Polio is a viral illness that, in about 95% of cases, actually produces no symptoms at all (called asymptomatic polio). In the 4% to 8% of cases in which there are symptoms (called symptomatic polio), the illness appears in three forms:

*  a mild form called abortive polio (most people with this form of polio may not even suspect they have it because their sickness is limited to mild flu-like symptoms such as mild upper respiratory infection, diarrhea, fever, sore throat, and a general feeling of being ill)
*  a more serious form associated with aseptic meningitis called nonparalytic polio (1% to 5% show neurological symptoms such as sensitivity to light and neck stiffness)
*  a severe, debilitating form called paralytic polio (this occurs in 0.1% to 2% of cases)
Source: http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/polio.html

[bill door]

Acording to Wiki, the oxygen starvation part is not usually the cause but rather the condition is brought on in fetal development.

[Sian]

I hate the word spastic. I went through a phase of calling my little brother a spastic constantly (I was a stroppy teenager) even though our cousin had cerebral palsy. I should have known better but i did find it amusing. Variations were spacko, spackattack, spazboy, spaztastic patrick....and many more.

I eventually outgrew it and realised what an offensive word it actually is. Since my cousin died I haven't used it at all, not even in a jokey way. I started calling him a scaff instead. We love each other really.

The older generation of people I come into contact with still use it and refer to disabled people as spastics. I think thats a little ignorant, the same as older generations are still using terms that are now deemed racist when talking about someone who is of a different race to them.

As a stupid teenager I paid no attention to things like that but once you hit a certain age you realise how immature it is, not to mention how hurtful it can be.

I don't think it takes alot of effort to adjust the way you refer to people as a whole. My brother has stopped calling us "Gaylords" and "lezza's" now and just calls us dickheads.

[Big Ed]

I hate the word spastic. I went through a phase of calling my little brother a spastic constantly (I was a stroppy teenager) even though our cousin had cerebral palsy. I should have known better but i did find it amusing. Variations were spacko, spackattack, spazboy, spaztastic patrick....and many more.

I eventually outgrew it and realised what an offensive word it actually is. Since my cousin died I haven't used it at all, not even in a jokey way. I started calling him a scaff instead. We love each other really.

The older generation of people I come into contact with still use it and refer to disabled people as spastics. I think thats a little ignorant, the same as older generations are still using terms that are now deemed racist when talking about someone who is of a different race to them.

As a stupid teenager I paid no attention to things like that but once you hit a certain age you realise how immature it is, not to mention how hurtful it can be.

I don't think it takes alot of effort to adjust the way you refer to people as a whole. My brother has stopped calling us "Gaylords" and "lezza's" now and just calls us dickheads.

I can feel the love

[Sian]

LOL Big Ed!!!

He's a 15 year old craphead but we love him! He's really starting to grow up now, but he's well beyond grasping the idea that we have real names at the moment!

I rarely get called anything mean unless i'm winding him up!

[danielleahole]

what exaclty IS PC and who so determines it?  cause really whom has the authority to determine pc anyway?  is it pc to call an afro american black when their really brown?  is it really pc to call a handicapped person deformed?  because you dont nessasairly have to be deformed 2 be handicapped.   likea t  all.  you could just not have working legs or something similar.  pc is a term tht many ppl misinterpret because their slow.   what do u think? :lol:  :arrow:  :x   here's what i thinK

is the war in irac pc??
cause were not iracki and theres no reason 4 us to be over there byt there we are yoy know?

and please dont gimme shit about my spelling, that;s so cheesy.  please only respond with educated answers.  like a chip answer.  thanks.

www.chiprjones.com

[Sian]

Is it politically correct to class someone as "slow" because they may not understand the term Politically Correct?

[danielleahole]

Is it politically correct to class someone as "slow" because they may not understand the term Politically Correct?

i definately think you could calssify someone as slow and still have it be pc.  it's liek i said, people just dont get  it

[Sian]

Aren't you a fountain of wisdom!

[danielleahole]

Aren't you a fountain of wisdom!

is that sarchasm?

[Sanitarium]

Political Correctness has many variations, everyone's opinion is different.

 There's no correlence between Retardation & PC IMO.......

 By the way- Spell Check could become a good friend of yours. It might actually make you look more intelligent than your really are.

[Lyric]

Political Correctness, is an all over general term to coin a phrase regarding a single person, group of people or a situation.  Without being vulgar.

Most of us would really like to answer your questions; and most of us can read past typos.

But, is it PC to ask us to respond intelligently, when you don't take the time to voice the same intelligence you expect?

Just curious.

[Wolfus]

Back when I was in highschool, for my area, "retarded" was a word used for slow, backwards, or non functional, and only that. It was not used as an insult per se, but you might say, "The bus is retarded, it was meant to be here an hour ago." as an indication of speed..

But when I went to stay with a friend of mine in Wales with an extremely disabled brother, he told me that it was widely unaccepted, and offensive to people like himself who cared for disabled people. I was bemused as I'd never associated 'retard' with disability. I'd assumed it was just a similar word.
A bit like ol' Sketchie's Dad hadn't associated 'fag' with homosexual. Two separate uses, to me at least. :s

'Course I dropped the term like a hot coal, and pointed out to some of my friends at the time how we musta been coming off to those around us.

[Lynne]

Back when I was in highschool, for my area, "retarded" was a word used for slow, backwards, or non functional, and only that. It was not used as an insult per se, but you might say, "The bus is retarded, it was meant to be here an hour ago." as an indication of speed..

But when I went to stay with a friend of mine in Wales with an extremely disabled brother, he told me that it was widely unaccepted, and offensive to people like himself who cared for disabled people. I was bemused as I'd never associated 'retard' with disability. I'd assumed it was just a similar word.
A bit like ol' Sketchie's Dad hadn't associated 'fag' with homosexual. Two separate uses, to me at least. :s

'Course I dropped the term like a hot coal, and pointed out to some of my friends at the time how we musta been coming off to those around us.

The irony of all of us living in different "English speaking countries" is that we use the same words in different ways.  I believe the current term in England for people with mental retardation is "learning disability," so the word "retardation" probably WOULDN'T mean anything to you.  In the States a "learning disability" is diagnosed when someone is a certain number of years behind their expected potential in a given school subject, so that term is not particularly loaded here in the States (yet).

While changing the terminology is a pain in the butt, the truth is that it can be very painful for the people who receive the label, so it behooves us to change our terminology so as not to hurt others.  That is all that "PC" is supposed to be about, really - not being snotty or arrogant or better than others - it really was intended as a way to show that certain words and labels can hurt and hold people back, and it was intended to promote increased sensitivity to others who are different than us.  

And that's certainly not a BAD thing, in my opinion.  

[Sian]

Jeebus, Lynne, you should come to the uk!!!

P.C has gone mad! :shock:

Some of our council workers were banned from having england flags on their vans and cars in case it offended different ethnic groups.

Companies are not allowed to send out christmas cards that say "Merry Christmas" in case they offend ethnic minorities.

Some towns banned christmas decorations so as not to offend yet more people.

While I agree with some things, others are just way to far fetched to make sense. It takes the biscuit if you ask me. The town put on a big diwali show for the asian community but we cannot put up decorations to celebrate christmas!

Please excuse the rant, I watched our football team defeated and kicked out of the world cup today. Therefore I am in rant mode. Not to mention a little squiffy!