Random Cripple Goodness

Happy Monday Everyone!

Crippie hopes all of her readers had a decent Monday, this oddly lovely NY weather certainly helped make my Monday rather pleasant. I was pretty busy today and I can't exactly think of a cohesive blog topic, so here is some random bits and bobbles of cripple stuff.

DANCING CRIPPLE... so amazing. I wish I had rhythm.

HERE is an awesome article about being a parent to a special needs child. Even though I'm not a parent I totally relate to it and agree with everything the author says. 

Temporarily Crippled Sloth... AAAAWWWWWWEEEEE

http://www.r-word.org/ - Here's a fabulous campaign to end derogatory uses of the r-word. Take the pledge people!

And the piggies wanted to share with you their new favorite blog, http://cavysavvy.blogspot.com/.

I actually just won some guinea pig shaped soap from there :D

Yup, so there ya have it peoples, some awesome cripple links! 

Quick Heat Pack Update - I've been regularly using the heat pack and the pain in my hip has definitely decreased. It still hurts from time to time, but it's a 2 instead of 5. FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!

Crippie's Tippie - YouTube is dangerous place. I was writing this post, went to find the URL for the sloth video... and spent the next 20 minutes looking at videos of baby sloths and monkeys.

Crippie Plays "IS IT OFFENSIVE"

Aloha! 

Believe it or not, today's greeting is actually related to the topic I intend on discussing! Shocking... I know. Anywhoooo Crippie came across some free some on Thursday so my mom, grandma, and I went to see "The Descendants". Crippie lurvs her some Oscar nominated films, especially potentially offensive Oscar films!

As mentioned in a prior blog post, I'm not particularly comfortable with the word "retard" in most contexts. There was a scene in the movie where the r-word was dropped and some potentially hurtful things about mentally challenged people. 

Crippie understands why people might find that particular scene offensive. Out of context the scene is reaaaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy hurtful to people with mental disabilities, BUT if you look at the scene in context the viewer would see that it is intentionally offensive. Why did the writer do that? My guess is that they wanted this specific character to seem like a totally dick. They wanted the viewers to feel the same hatred that George Clooney's character was feeling. Thus, Crippie does not find this film offensive at all. Crippie really enjoyed the film actually, it deserves every award it wins. 

The trick with movies is that there might be parts of them that are technically "offensive" and are by no means politically correct... but they are in the movie for a reason. Whether it be to prove a point, develop a character, or to be soooooo offensive that it becomes funny, etc. When Crippie sees films that are intentionally offensive she is not offended. Crippie has not seen any recent films that she finds offensive, there are older movies where people play stereotypical "retarded" people that serve no purpose to the film. those are movies are kinda offensive. So what do you guys think? Are there any movies that you find offensive to cripples? 

In unrelated guinea pig news, it took a few days but all the piggies in the big cage are getting along. Nellie and Frida and becoming fast friends. They absolutely love their new cage and all their new toys (and by new toys I mean toys they haven't seen in a few days). I am beyond thrilled with how that situation turned out. 

Crippie's Tippie - If movies like "The Descendants" horribly offend you, try to look at the bigger picture and think why they did it.

Cripple vs. Retard

Yo!

Today I'm gonna answer a question that I've been asked a few times, especially since starting this blog. Clearly I'm very comfortable with using the word 'cripple', but what about the word 'retard'?
This is probably gonna sound really hypocritical, but I do NOT approve of using that word. While both might seem very similar they are actually rather different. The word cripple literally means "disabled", the word retard literally means "slow" or "delayed". The terms start to differentiate here because over the past several years the word retard has come to mean "stupid" and now has a very negative connotation, but the term can still be used to describe a person with a developmental disability. This is why I don't use the word retard, because people with developmental delays are NOT stupid, I will not use a word that implies that.
I hope that's a clear enough explanation. The only other way I could prove my point would be to provide an example. Take the name of this blog for example, if this blog was named "Retard's Room" or "Tard-ie Time" what would think this blog was about? While the word cripple is considered offensive to some people, I do not put it on the same level as retard.

Crippie's Tippie- Don't call people retards, or gay for that matter. In this age of bullying and being cruel to one another how's about we try being nice to one another!