#definition zubat

Behaviorism: A school of psychology that focuses on forcibly training specific behaviors.

Behaviorism is based on neurotypical, able-bodied behavior being the norm, and makes no attempts to be inclusive to neurodiverse and disabled people. According to behaviorists, as long as you display “appropriate” behavior, it doesn’t matter whether the process of acquiring such behaviors was harmful or not. This makes it unsettlingly easy for abusive parents to institutionally abuse their children.

Abuse culture: A culture in which certain groups are treated as problems rather than people.

Let’s not pretend that abuse is “only a family problem”. In every setting, in every aspect of society, abuse runs rampant. Everyone not seen as “normal” is treated violently and inhumanely-whether it be through physical, financial, or emotional violence. Abuse is so ingrained in society that members of the group “normal” can say they believe other don’t people deserve to be happy, don’t deserve to be accepted, don’t deserve to express their feelings, or don’t deserve to live, without any repercussions whatsoever.

That, needless to say, is a huge problem. And navigating through the sea of abuse culture colors our lives in every way imaginable.

Deadnaming: Referring to a trans person by a name they’ve retired.

The term deadnaming comes from the fact that it’s often done to trans people who are dead. Typically their parents along with some political and/or religious group take the opportunity to aggressively misgender them when they can no longer object. 

Deadnaming can be intentional, meant to dehumanize and disrespect the trans person. Deadnaming can also be accidental; sometimes you don’t see someone for a while, and you don’t know they’ve changed their name. Not using their current name dehumanizes and disrespects them, regardless. 

–Nidoqueen & Glaceon