Or people unfairly labeled as such because they are different from the norm.

I was labled 'retard' as a kid because I was quiet and didn't follow the 'popular' trends and kids and I prefered the company of the so called 'retarded' kids cuz they were a heck of allot nicer then the clique but since I associated with them I must be one too.

Being called names was bad enough but even worse when you discover what that name MEANS, I was a smart kid...I knew how to use a dictionary I looked up the word and my self-esteem took a hell of a blow to know that people thought of me as slow, as stupid, as inferior.

Now its entirely possible that the kids who called me that didn't realize what that word meant, but they got the signal somewhere, heard the word somewhere, was told that people who fit into these cues were this way and this is how you refer to them...how you treat them and its okay to do that.

Even worse the 'Derp/Derpy' term is now becoming more and more common and seen as 'harmless' one community I belong to got a complaint about it, the mods looked it up...and did a 180 hammering down on it as hard as other slurs, with enormous backlash but they held firm thank gods.

So yeah my teal deer let me show you it...