My reaction to "differently able" as a disabled person is to think: changing what you call it doesn't change my disability and certainly doesnt change how I feel about myself. If anything it seems lazy and pandering.

I can't do many things that most others can. That's just how it is and I have accepted that. I work with what I have, just like we all do.

Calling it something you consider less offensive doesn't obviate you from treating me with respect and decency. If you want to know something about my disability ask. Be polite and respectful, Understand the appropriateness of the situation and don't obsess on my differences.

When we first met I didn't ask, "wow why are you so ugly?" So maybe asking "why do you limp?" Shouldn't be your first question.

Compassion isn't avoiding offending me, or offending your own feelings.

Compassion is about understanding, hey they can't do some things many of us can or need to do them differently. But they're a person and deserve to be treated like one just like anyone else.

This isn't hard.

Did someone ever work out the relevant academic theory that describes this linguistic process?

A word starts out as neutral, but gradually transitions to becoming a slur (a process that seemingly takes decades), and is replaced by a new politically correct word which is seen as too avant-garde at first, but gets established in part due to a lack of push-back (because any criticism will make the person levelling it seem a bigot/racist/ass), and eventually that becomes the default word, until it starts sliding into slur territory and the cycle starts anew.

I'm not sure if this process can actually be prevented.

"Differently abled" makes me think "yeah, the difference is I'm unable to do certain things" every time.

The universe is not balanced and fair. It didn't give me something in exchange for what it took from me, and that is okay.

As someone who actually has a disabity I would much prefer if people just called me a cripple, honestly.

Or you know, just call me by my name? That works too I guess.

Like most of these wokisms, it's not about bettering the situation or lives, it's more about complying with a singly-minded mindset of a singular world view that wokists would have us all hold. It's the same way with any cult (whether religious or social). When you control words and vocabulary you are just one step from controlling thoughts.

When I was a kid "handicapped" was common, but then it became regarded as offensive and was replaced by "disabled". I thought at the time it was silly, as abled/disabled was pretty binary ('dis-' = 'not'), whereas "handicap" covers a whole range, and encourages us to think of ways to "level the paying field".

Agree completely, and there's all kind of other adjectives getting the same treatment!

I'm India the official term used and promoted by the government is "specially abled"

Meanwhile, in Polish, the official word for a black person (Murzyń) sounds like a slur

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At the risk of getting downvoted for sarcasm...

"Stop"? That's harsh "Tellling?" That excludes people who are unable to talk "People?" Whoa, aren't we constantly going on about animals and even plants being sentient creatues?

So "differently continue communicating to sentient creatures"... Oh wait, creationism? ...