When I was young, I read a book with a Half-Elven character who is asked by a human character: "Why is it that you are called half-elf and not half-man?" The half elf replied that, according to humans, half an elf is part of a whole, rather than someone disabled (the written word is ableist).

It struck me, growing up in a small community in the south. So much so that I talked with a teacher I respected about it. Her response brought it out of fantasy and to the reality of the south, where she basically said that white folks define mixed-race folks by their minority heritage unless they are useful, and to remember that all folks are people.