#unintentional harm

[haikusbyhe]

Just listen

It is not always  

necessary to propose  

any ideas.  

[teachimera]

Tumblr Question Time

So, after my cake post went viral, I’ve been having fun looking at the reblogs and tags and such.  I’ve really loved seeing people’s positive reactions to the cake, and I’m glad other people are gaining inspiration from it.  (If anyone is wondering, the skulls used for reference were coyote, mink, raccoon, and bat and they were all individually carved, not molded--seemingly with the delicacy of the skulls, it was actually about the same cost to do it carved as opposed to molded.) The wedding itself was Tea and Skulls themed.  We had a number of actual skulls at the wedding and reception and used over 15 mink skulls for the wedding party alone.

BUT THAT IS NOT RELATED TO MY QUESTION.  My question comes from the couple of posts tagging mine with “ableism.”  Though I didn’t realize it before, I can understand that some people are triggered by the term crazy.  Speaking as someone with a mental illness, the word has been used against me more than once.  However, part of how I deal with that is by using crazy as a positive adjective.  “This is crazy awesome” or “They did this great thing!  It was crazy!” are ways that I first consciously used the term, but now do so unconsciously.

So I guess my question is if trying to take back and use words that have been used to harm me and people like me in a medium where people might not know my history is an inherently bad thing?  Is the chance that someone may be hurt from seeing my use of the word crazy enough that it isn’t right for me to use it in my own healing process?

I know that I’m conflicted on the answer, as I don’t want to hurt anyone, but also don’t want to limit my own agency regarding my own disability.