Yes

I think they mean “mentally retarded”. The term is simply a catch-all to describe conditions that inhibit normal brain function that was used a lot more often in the past (it was actually still a medical term until 2010).

When I was young it was casually used as a catch-all word applied to extreme cases of mental disability. It was crude because it lumped together all kinds of different conditions, which is kind of a stupid and ignorant thing for intelligent people to do.

Being a rude word, it was (and is) sometimes used deragototily in the exact same way as “dumb”, “stupid”, or “idiot”. In this way, the word makes sense… It’s a rude word, after all. It’s meant to offend because it’s understood to be ignorant. People, of course, love using offensive words when they want to empart diction, offend others, or be edgy.

This all becomes less rude and more completely fucked up when it’s used to describe an actual person with a mental handicap. This is the use that could be justifiably banned, censored, etc. within polite society, or managed forums that have rules against denegratory speech.

And yet, in the same way, calling a handicapped person stupid, braindead, or a moron is just as bad. The same exact rules should apply.

Strangely, you can call people of normal intelligence all of these things and you won’t get censored or called out. I find this to be hipocritical, personally…

I think countless people honestly don’t know why this word is rude, and through political activism and moneyed campaigns, they’ve been convinced that anyone who uses the word is a biggot. Personally, I find * that * offensive. I know why many people use this word, and to boil the every use of it down to ableism is doing a disservice to our united front against actual biggots and ableists.

In short, I find the crusade against this word to be divisive and counter-productive.