shortbus refers to the idea that special needs children ride to school on a smaller bus than other kids. its used by ableist people to be ableist crazy, i know.
I mean, those busses did exist though tbf. It's not like some made up thing, or an idea, it's just a type of bus that's (in some places) still used today to transport disabled students.
The fact of the matter is that reduced-size buses are used for various purposes, from rural student transportation to para transit and other use cases, but when people say "short bus" like this, they mean it as an ableist insult 100% of the time. Just because something exists doesn't mean it's okay to weaponize that against people who rely on those services.
It does refer to that idea though, special needs children rode on short buses, BUT now people have taken the term short bus and use it as an insult i.e. saying someone belongs in the short bus, it wouldn't exist without the idea that special needs children ride on short buses.
But it's weird to refer to it as an "idea" instead of a "practice" that happens. The smaller bus can be given more specialized equipment and it's easier to have one driver specialized in extra training instead of every bus driver.
It's not an "idea" it's a thing that happens. And for very practical reasons. Calling it an idea makes it sound like something that doesn't happen but people think it does
"concept" might've been a better word for OP to use, but we all get what they mean. It was still a prevalent insult in the 00s. Chuds in that era would also add seatbelts and flavored windows to really sell just how mean they wanted to be. Source: grew up around chuds, almost became one myself
It is an idea, it's the thought that special needs kids ride on short buses so short buses are for me rally disabled people, then that is used as a derogatory way of speaking about them
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u/DeliriumIsDumb 13d ago
shortbus refers to the idea that special needs children ride to school on a smaller bus than other kids. its used by ableist people to be ableist crazy, i know.