It communicates “you aren’t disabled, you have no excuse for acting like it, start choosing to use the fully functional brain you have”.

look, if this doesn't make you see how it's a shitty thing to say, i don't think anyone else can help you understand.

Using a slur to insult someone, regardless of if they are a member of that group, shows that you view it as an inherently negative trait, and that people should be ashamed of being a part of, or associated with, the group.

nobody is going to arrest you for using the word, and many people will celebrate you using it. The problem is those people are mostly assholes. The word you should be thinking about is "audience".

Look I usually only lurk because im too anxious but I have to say something.

Your logic is the exact logic my neo nazi family use. (not an exaggeration, I grew up around the klan)

"If they act like an N word, why cant I call them an N word, its not like im racist, i call stupid/criminal/bad whites N words too."

So i think anyone who uses this logic to justify a slurs usage should take a moment for self reflection.

(This is coming from someone who is queer and will use queer slurs only in certain company, in private, where everyone involved is aware and into it. (and even then I get uncomfy, especially when im in a new group and I don't know people and they start throwing words around.))

(Also to add I was one of those "slow" kids who has alot of history with the cruel things my family and others called me.

words do area-of-effect damage, friend.

if you use the r-slur around me, even if its not directed at me, it hurts, and it makes me feel less safe with you, because of the way that word has been used to specifically target me for hatred based on my neurotype. plus there's the fact that you acknowledge it to be a mean word for disabled people, and if you're using it as a weapon against non-disabled people, you're really saying 'haha, you're like those disabled people, and that's terrible.' i hope you can see how this probably doesn't feel so good to a lot of us?

no hate to you but i do hate that this is one of the default responses the internet has chosen when discussing this language (twice now in this thread)

i guess it’s like a growing pains thing, but it strikes me as very middle schooler, kind of like bringing up that one word that means unwilling to share with others.

one is a noun/adjective, the other is a verb. entirely different words that simply have the same Latin root. one is used in a professional context in an industry nearly none of us are familiar with, the other i come across as a derogatory on this site pretty much hourly. please let’s grow up a bit about this.

(again no hate to you specifically commenter, it was a funny joke and i just want to call out the broader trend)

Just don't use it to refer to people and you're golden. There are many slurs that are also legitimate scientific terms, like how fag(g)ot is a bundle of sticks, or how in physics you have the Advanced and the Retarded Green's functions.

To be fair to Airbus,

1. They probably chose the language for that call-out way before 2009. Airplanes can live for thirty years, and type designs can keep going several decades longer

2. The designers were also likely to be French, but they selected English call-outs. This seems to me like a case where they picked a word that's technically in the OED l, but is actually much more common in French.