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Explanation: "Spinal disabled" and "spinally disabled" get very few Google hits and the former gets mainly Australian ones because there seems to be an Australian association incorporating the phrase. However Googling for "with spinal disabilities" gets thousands of hits.
As there are a range of disabilities involved, the plural, disabilities, seems to be used more often and especially when referring to more than one person.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0735565201 Vincent R. Fontana, Esq Fontana - 2006 - Law Persons with spinal disabilities or who are perceived to have such disabilities are persons with a disability within the meaning of Sections 3 and 102(a) of the ...
Oh dear! I thought from your previous comment that you had realised the stuff about going mental was just a joke. It was just intended to illustrate that the adverbial form "spinally disabled" should be preferred to "spinal disabled".
I know, but that has hardly any bearing on using the phrase "mental handicapped" if at all. Just like 'go berserk' exists, but that's no reason to say 'berserk disabled'. Oh dear, what are we discussing here ... ? And why ...
Not sure whether you realised that "to go mental" is a colloquial expression meaning to get uncontrollably angry (also "to lose one's rag", but that's a bit dated).
this interpretation of "mental handicapped" sounds very laboured and far-fetched to me, I'm afraid. Would you say something about 'the mental disabled' or 'the physical handicapped' as well? Disabled who've gone mental and handicapped who've gone physical? "mental disabled" is simply and most likely grammatically wrong (not grammatical wrong ...). But as you've agreed, I enjoy and love the joke :) Hope you enjoy my jokes about it too.
Agree. Love 'the vertical challenged' (as opposed to the horizontal challenged?), which shows why the mentally handicapped are not the same as "the mental handicapped" (handicapped people who've gone mental).
I'm just wondering whether you'd speak about 'the mental disabled' or 'the physical handicapped' or 'the vertical challenged' for that matter? No, not with the adjectival forms, I don't think so. So why did you suggest 'the spinal disabled' and not 'spinally'? Please enlighten.
peer agreement (net): +1