Willow Emmison-Neal was born six weeks premature and diagnosed with spastic diplegia when she was one.

BBC: Willow Emmison-Neal

One illustration of this is the use of the word "spastic" as an insult.

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Up to four in 10 stroke survivors suffer from spastic disability.

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"I thought we'd got over that from the 1970s when people used to use the term 'spastic' in the playground, " says Benet Middleton from the society.

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Sharks are smooth, steady swimmers, so the pull on the line was constant and heavy rather than the spastic tugging that I have experienced from other fish.

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Just a few years ago, it was such a common insult in playgrounds and elsewhere that the Spastic Society dropped the term altogether, changing its name to Scope.

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The nerd's spastic movements, childlike laugh, checked-out eyes as she codes or writes or thinks are the symptoms of a person obsessed with work, a person unconscious of herself and the impression she's making.

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Samsung brought out a guy dressed as a gingerbread man (a costume that looked more like a spastic beaver) to promote the smartphone, which is the only one that comes with the Gingerbread version of Android.

CNN: Mark Milian

The tubes are spastic.

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