Spastics, cretins and the political correctness of the right

Ruth Richards, head of communications at Mind, has written a response to my criticism of the pointlessness of politically correct descriptions of the mentally ill and handicapped. As you would expect it is worth reading in full, but I am afraid it left me unconvinced.

She thinks that the effort to reshape language is worthwhile, and cannot see how today’s polite discourse will become tomorrow’s insults.

‘I don’t agree that in however many years’ time the terms we use today will become offensive in their own right. “Person with mental health problems” is just far too clunky to be shouted in the playground.’

So it is. But ‘mental’ is already an insult, and other attempts to change the world merely by twiddling with language have been equally futile. To quote the most striking instance, in 1994, the Spastics’ Society changed its name to ‘Scope’. One could not fault the motives of its rewrite men and women.