I have cerebral palsy and am grateful Beyoncé and Lizzo changed their lyrics. I'm still frustrated we hold Black artists to higher standards.

• When fans called Beyoncé out for using an ableist term in her song "Heated," she changed the lyric.
• I'm grateful for the swift action, but the continued pile-on frustrates me.

When Beyoncé received criticism for using an ableist term in the song "Heated" from "Renaissance" — her first solo album in six years, which dropped at the end of July — she quickly changed the lyric. She used the word "spaz," and the critique came largely from disabled people: "Spaz" carries negative connotations for those in the disability community, specifically those of us with cerebral palsy, including myself.

People have used the word to make fun of our spastic and uncontrollable movements. But people also often use it to imply going wild and throwing caution to the wind, including in African American Vernacular English. After receiving word of its offense, Beyoncé and her team quickly handled the situation.

A rep for Beyoncé told Insider in a statement, "The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced," and she removed it from the song. This change came on the heels of Lizzo's use of the word "spaz'' in her song "Grrrls," which she released in mid-June. Instead of arguing and getting defensive, the "Special" singer apologized and made the change.

After seeing this swift change and apology, I was ecstatic. Truth be told, people often don't listen to those in the disabled community when we bring up concerns about, well, anything. So after two of the most well loved and talented artists in the world listened to the concerns of the disability community, you might think that I, an outspoken Beyoncé fan, disabled journalist, and author would be satisfied, right? Not quite.

Gratitude followed by frustration — but not with Beyoncé

While I'm happy that these two major artists changed the harmful lyric, my frustration remains. My frustration lies not with the artists but with some members of the disability community and the double standard that Black people inside and out of it face in these situations.

When the news of Beyoncé's and Lizzo's word usage and subsequent changes first dropped, the first thing I did was go where people go when they want to, at best, kill some time or, at worst, ruin their own day: Twitter. As I scrolled, I saw many non-Black disabled people react in one of a few ways: They voiced their gratitude about the changes, or they harped on the fact that both artists said the word in the first place, despite the artists having already rectified the situations.

After seeing three tweets in a row on my timeline that were dragging out the situation, I tweeted about my frustration and annoyance at the way that some white and other non-Black members of the disability community seemed to jump at the chance to write long posts about how disappointed they were in Lizzo and Beyoncé.

I truly believe that no one is above critique — including Lizzo and Beyoncé — but I question whether the white and non-Black disabled people in the community writing these extensive posts ever take the time to call out artists and others using ableist language who look like them.

An impossible standard and the importance of nuance

In the past few years there's been an increased call to stop using ableist language, including words like "crazy" or "psycho," which artists often use to refer to exes, as well as words like "lame" and "stupid" to describe things or people someone might dislike. This is progress.

But when we talk about the importance of ridding our vocabularies and cultural touchstones of ableist language, my hope is that we don't forget to stop and think about the nuances in these conversations. Let's think about this particular situation; an instance centered around an ableist word, yes, but also one that those in Black communities sometimes use without any intent to harm anyone.

I have always known the power of words; that's why I became a writer. Words can heal, and they can harm. Language — and the way we choose to use it — matters, and words have meaning. In fact, sometimes a single word can hold multiple meanings. Both the effect and meaning of words also shift and change with our culture, and this flexibility is one of the greatest gifts that language gives us.

In the disability community, we often talk about the importance of distinguishing between impact and intent; sometimes, even good intentions cannot erase the harm done to others. The point of acknowledging nuance here is not to make excuses for people. But I do want to push back on the eager way in which some white and non-Black disabled people jump at the chance to scold Black people after a mistake without first considering the potential of their intent and the fact that we all have different experiences.

To see some members of the disability community pile on Black people time and time again when they make mistakes while giving white and non-Black artists much more slack around using ableist language hurts. Take, for example, Tate McRae's song "Stupid," which includes the lyric "I'm stupid for you" in reference to a paramour who is "bad for her health." In the song "Me!," Taylor Swift apologizes for "going psycho" on the phone, and Brendon Urie mentions that there are "a lot of lame guys out there." The list goes on.

While I enjoy these artists' music, society has not challenged most of them on these choices. Also, unlike these artists, both Beyoncé and Lizzo changed their lyrics. But the criticism they received exceeded the response to the work of countless non-Black artists I did not list here, many of whom continue to use ableist language.

So the issue goes beyond the word "spaz" for me. While I'm glad both corrected their mistakes, my hope now is that those in the disability community who often hold Black people — and Black women, specifically — to a near-impossible standard can correct their mistakes, too.