Political correctness...how far should we run with it?

I just read this post on a disabled feminists' site about the usage of the word 'weak' and it got me thinking...

http://disabledfeminists.com/2009/11/02/ableist-word-profile-weak/

I am all for not hurting people's feelings or invalidating their very real experiences...but I feel this is going too far. 'Weak' is an abstract word with many nuances of meaning. Physically it can mean not being able to lift much. Behaviourally and mentally it can mean failing to overcome your faults or to face up to something you find uncomfortable. 

If you use physical disability as an insult, yes, that's wrong. But I see nothing wrong with using a broad and abstract word like 'weak'. So long as you specify that you mean moral weakness and are not using disability as an insult, I think the word is fine.

Am I being an overprivileged douche and appropriating other people's feelings and experiences where I shouldn't?

I don't think so. 

After all, if we run with this, we shouldn't use metaphors at all unless they're positive ones. For example, people often use the metaphor 'sick' to complain about something. 'You make me sick!' or 'X is such a liar, he makes me sick!' and such are common usage. Is that an insult to people who are actually sick at the moment? I don't think so. It's clearly a metaphor used to make a point. It doesn't take anything away from someone who has a headache, or enteritis, or leukemia.

I do have to agree with the part about deferring to the language that people use about themselves, though. It's never okay to define someone else's feelings and experiences for them. I already hate this, and I don't even have much to complain about. I am a first world, able bodied white woman and I fucking hate when some dude tries to tell me that I want kids, even though I don't, and when I point out that I'd rather have sulfuric acid injected into my eyes, he tells me I'm either lying to myself or don't understand my basic impulses. Now translate that to someone who has to go up against able bodied privilege every...damn... day.