So was "Gay Bowl Syndrome".

A bit like "venereal disease"

The word can still be used in it's used, you shouldn't use it against people who have down syndrome etc. It also means to have slowed down or delayed thoughts or ideas. Marx used it. It was one of the first words banned. I used to get very offended by the word, because people used to laugh at disabled people and use the word. I'd laugh as well because I used to just be infected by laughter. It's the laugh track effect, when I met people who genuinely laughed at disabled people and that word it made me feel sick, I never wanted to ban the word though. Banning words is bad. It helps bad people hide bad intentions and gives people a fake morale shield to hide behind. People tried to tell me the slippery slope argument was a logical fallacy when I pointed it out. Not using bad words is fine banning people for using them isn't.

I remember when people started using the n word, and I was just this stupid nerd who said it was bad. The r word offends me less when used correctly. The only reason some fascists care about down syndrome and the r word is because they have it in their family see Shane Gillis