It has been reported on ouch and elsewhere that golfer Tiger Woods said he thought he played like a spaz after loosing the recent open. The question I have now is, should I be offended? Indeed, I refer too myself as a spaz all the time – many disabled people do. Like crip, it is a word we claimed back for ourselves, and now it carries connotations of fraternity, the idea that we face a common struggle, etc.

However, for a non-crip to use it is different. As the article linked to above makes clear, it is rather like the N-word for black people, and the word Queer. Only certain people can use it. I still regard the word spaz as a term of abuse in some instances, and therefore am offended. The inability to knock a small ball into a hole with a stick does not mean you have cp.