on a sidenote, the romanticization of the disabled is a really strange thing. They’re complex human beings, not cuddly hug-machines.

Also, ‘dumb’ is the perfect example of what WAS happening with the word ‘retard’. Nobody in the business uses the term ever to refer to people with disabliities. It was quickly on its way to lose its meaning, but certain activist groups thought they had something they could use to ‘raise awareness’.