As a disabled blogger, I think it would be woefully negligent if I didn’t direct everyone here, to Steve Shives’ latest video in which he talks about the increased use of what he calls the ‘R word’. Rather worryingly, according to Shives use of that word – a derogatory word for people with learning difficulties/intellectual disabilities – is becoming more and more commonplace. Since the second election of Donald Trump, people seem to have started using it and words like it as some kind of repugnant rebellion against political correctness. As someone who has both known people with quite profound learning difficulties, and who has had the term used as an insult against him more than once, I know how vile and hurtful the use of the term can be. It is therefore extremely laudable to see somebody like Shives highlighting the issue and drawing everyone’s attention to it. To hear it now being used so casually and flippantly, when it connotes people who need the most support of all, truly is stomach-churning.