Cosmetic Reform
When institutions talk about reform but change only language—not the structure that causes harm.
SSA Ontology
Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
A permanent publication within the SSA Ontology, with a stable web address and machine-readable identity.
Concept scheme · 6 concepts
Glossary of Co-opted Patterns
This is not a dictionary. This is a firewall. The terms below were coined through lived experience and operate as semantically precise survival tools. Each one interrupts pattern theft, narrative laundering, and reworded harm.
Institutional Rewording
When a person in authority rewords your lived experience to suit the narrative of institutional control.
Mindset Splaining
Blaming structural oppression on an individual’s “mindset,” as though positive thinking alone resolves systemic harm.
Neurocorrective Framing
Reframing neurodivergence as dysfunction that needs correcting, rather than validating it as a legitimate cognitive experience.
Safetysplaining
Using “safety” to justify silencing, excluding, or overriding a person’s needs or voice.
Splaining
“Splaining” is not a typo. It’s a pattern. These terms expose tactics that reframe harm as help, control as care, and oppression as oversight. When someone insists they’re helping—but their help strips you of autonomy, authorship, or agency.