The American definition:
1.) An excitable, hyper, or jittery
person.
2.) To act in a wild manner.
As defined by white disabled activists from the UK on
twitter:
1.) An ableist slur
short for "spastic" or "spasticity"; which directly refers to Spastic Diplegia, and anyone (preferably those with power and followers) who uses the term in any context outside of medical science must apologize and be ashamed for having used it.
United States: This kid I'm babysitting is such a spaz. He gets one piece of candy in him and he's bouncing off the walls.
United Kingdom: Even though we call "fags" cigarettes in the
UK (and no one has cancelled all of Britain yet), when
Beyonce and Lizzo used the word "spaz" in a jovial context, we fought on social media to bring worldwide attention to the NEGATIVE connotation.
Also UK: "Spaz" has historically been a part of African American English Vernacular, but any disabled people of color from the US disagreeing with us will be a.) ignored in the conversation on
Twitter, or B.) be accused of "reverse
racism".