Stigma around intellectual disability persists in anonymous online debates
An anonymous thread shows how 'subnormal' is used as an insult alongside references to IQ. Stigma toward intellectual disability remains alive on the internet.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Intellectual disability: the anonymous contempt that never stops
Contempt for intellectual disability finds an almost perfect breeding ground in digital anonymity. A TikTok video, whose content is unknown, has served as an excuse for several anonymous comments to hurl insults such as "zascandil" or "ceporro", with a crudeness that recalls bygone times. But it is not just insults: one of the messages introduces an apparently technical argument: "50% of the population is submedian, with an IQ below approximately 95". The figure, although with no verifiable source, is used to normalize discrimination.
The conversation does not stop there. A false distinction is drawn between "trisomics" (as if they were a separate category, less deserving of respect) and "zascandil", who are said to live shorter lives full of ailments. The arrival of the Internet, according to another comment, would have made it possible to "hide behind a keyboard" and put an end to the "oral tests that demeaned us", an irony that betrays an awareness of the stigma itself.
Most serious of all is that these expressions are not isolated. The normalization of "zascandil" as an insult and the appeal to pseudoscientific data about intelligence quotient reveal a current of thought that, although a minority one, persists in the margins of the web. The question left hanging: how much of this is ignorance and how much is entrenched hatred?
Related discussions in the forum
Contempt for intellectual disability finds an almost perfect breeding ground in digital anonymity. A TikTok video, whose content is unknown, has served as an excuse for several anonymous comments to hurl insults such as "zascandil" or "ceporro", with a crudeness that recalls bygone times. But it is not just insults: one of the messages introduces an apparently technical argument: "50% of the population is submedian, with an IQ below approximately 95". The figure, although with no verifiable source, is used to normalize discrimination.
The conversation does not stop there. A false distinction is drawn between "trisomics" (as if they were a separate category, less deserving of respect) and "zascandil", who are said to live shorter lives full of ailments. The arrival of the Internet, according to another comment, would have made it possible to "hide behind a keyboard" and put an end to the "oral tests that demeaned us", an irony that betrays an awareness of the stigma itself.
Most serious of all is that these expressions are not isolated. The normalization of "zascandil" as an insult and the appeal to pseudoscientific data about intelligence quotient reveal a current of thought that, although a minority one, persists in the margins of the web. The question left hanging: how much of this is ignorance and how much is entrenched hatred?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (13 replies).
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