It is really fascinating to follow the links of those who have visited The ‘r’ Word site and who want to make fun of it. It is obvious they have not set down with a person with disabilities and tried to get to know them. From their posts they see people with disabilities as objects rather than people who have feelings and are full of life.

They talk about their right to belittle people with disabilities by using the “r” word and see nothing wrong with that. They do not grasp that this issue is about respect for other human beings. They can not see that making fun of someone by using words that hurt is wrong. After all, its only a joke, right?

They also do not see where this line of thinking is leading them.

How does the cycle of hate evolve? Here are the rungs of the Ladder of Prejudice;
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/activities/activity.jsp?ar=857

The First Rung: Speech — Its fun to talk bad about or make fun of those who are not like us.

The Second Rung: Avoidance — Lets shun them, ignore them. They are not like us and we are better than them. Surely if we ignore them, they do not exist.

The Third Rung: Discrimination — We don’t want them around here. We will make them leave, or at least not live next to us. We will make them live away from us in a place befitting them — like institutions, or group homes away from our community, not in our own backyards.

The Fourth Rung: Physical Attack — Lets taunt them, pick on them and if there is enough of us, hurt them. And if no one is looking or cares…

The Fifth Rung: Extermination — You mean like Hitler did to the Jews during WWII? Or maybe we can selectively breed them away or remove them by other methods — Eugenics: http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/library/wdc-lib/historical/eugenics/index.cfm

This is what we are fighting. The Ladder of Prejudice; Are You On the Ladder?