Three Wins Today: Oct 12, 2025
Our language matters
This is probably not going to make me the most popular person, but, well, it needs to be said.
There are a lot of words that unfortunately have been used as slurs for different groups of people in the disabled community. Now some of these are universally understood as slurs, like r**arded, while others are still used consistently in our everyday language.
I have been doing my best not to use these words, because it’s just not kind. And if we have the ability to make something easier on someone, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort, why not?
For instance, I do my best not to call anyone “crazy,” because “crazy” is a long standing way to demean and diminish someone’s real mental health struggles. My most used alternative is “wild,” it fits in most situations. “Wow, that’s wild” works just as well.
Another ones is “falling on deaf ears.” Being deaf doesn’t mean someone can’t read social cues or isn’t paying attention. I usually say “you’re not listening.”
I know the idea of asking people to change their language feels like an affront, but if you were watching TV in 2008-2009, you probably remember the “Think Before You Speak” Campaign. The most famous ad from the campaign was Hilary Duff. “When you say, that’s so gay, do you realize what you say? Knock it off.”
When was the last time you heard someone say “that’s so gay”? Other than a TV show where the writers think they’re still writing for 2009, I think for me it was high school. It’s just not part of the lexicon anymore.
And, in large part, that’s thanks to that campaign. It was hurtful, so there was a campaign against it and it worked.
The loss of that phrase from acceptable slang isn’t talked about as “politically correct,” in fact, it isn’t talked about at all.
And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think everyone stopped using it, but it stopped being acceptable everyday language.
We can do that with other hurtful words. We don’t have to get up in arms over the idea of having to slightly alter our language.
Just think about it. How much harder is it to say “God, Donald Trump did something so ridiculously abysmal today, I can’t believe he did that”?
And hey, oftentimes “crazy” has just become a catch all and there’s way better words that do a better job at getting your idea across anyway.
Just think about it.
Now, for today’s wins!
Portland, Oregon
Fri, Oct 3 - The mascot of Portland’s minor league baseball team, the Portland Pickles, joined a small ICE protest. And that’s quite literally all the information I have.
Yes they’re minor league, but this is still a risk, as you can see, the entire comment section is filled with people who say they were fans and no longer are. I don’t know if that’s true, but, the people who support their decision, every clearly aren’t commenting. Hopefully the fact that I’m highlighting it will change that.
Also worth noting Sora made an AI video showing the Pickle running from ICE (god I hate Sora), so most people who have seen it, really aren’t getting the real story.
New Jersey and Virginia
Tue, Oct 7 - VoteVets has announced it’s first investment in New Jersey and an additional investment in Virginia.
In New Jersey they are investing $500,000 into the gubernatorial race and an additional $79,000 directly to the NJ Dem party. This is a first for VoteVets, they’ve never given directly to a state party before.
In Virginia they are giving an additional $500,000 on top of the $1m they’ve already invested in the state. They are also giving $100,000 to the HD-64 race, to unseat Republican incumbent Paul Milde.
These investments are in the form of ad campaigns.
In New Jersey it’s a campaign called “High Tax Jack”
The VA gubernatorial ad is titled “Too Weak”
And the ad against Paul Milde is a doozy titled “Burden,” which is what he thinks of disabled vets.
The NJ ad is directly about Mikie Sherrill, but my one issue is that the other two are only about why you shouldn’t vote for the Republican, not who you should vote for instead. I hope that’s the right call.
Oakland, California
Wed, Oct 8 - Workers at an Oakland Burger King went on strike to demand equal pay and fair treatment for their pregnant coworker. When she asked the manager for some accommodations, her hours were cut instead. She fought back and her hours were restored, but that’s not enough for California Fast Food Workers Union. They’re demanding assurance that this will never happen again:
Due to the solidarity of our coworker, her family, and other workers, her hours have been restored, but that’s not enough. We demand that Burger King take action to correct the harm they’ve done to our coworker as a result of their violations. We also demand that Burger King not cut our coworker’s hours again during the pregnancy and provide her with the accommodations she needs for a safe pregnancy.
This is the power of a union.
Solidarity forever, union strong!
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So those are some of the wins I saw today. As always, it’s all about our power to just DO SOMETHING!
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
'Illegals' is another term that should not be used except maybe when describing a crime; certainly never to describe people.
Thank you Ariella for your words section- it is true- words matter and we should all be more aware. I will try to start that now- thanks for the reminder.