“NOT RETARDED” One Part of the Community Expresses Language Hurts!
Steve Hoad

“send letters to organizations to help them understand that retarded isn’t a proper word”…    “it hurts us if you call us retarded”…    “it is Ok to write the word retarded in order to explain to them that it is hurtful.”
(Paul Piccard, Augusta)

We have all felt the sting of hurtful words. They stick in our throats if we have to say them and stick in our hearts when we hear them. One particular segment of our communities has been speaking up about the hurt inflicted by one word, “retarded,” and their challenges are finding people and organizations who will hear their stories and reasons.

It is a word now used to mean much more than a medical diagnosis — a word that now expresses disdain or stupidity, funny or simpleness

 Read the rest of the article: http://www.abilitymaine.org/oped/notret.html

This mother of two thinks so and so do we…

“While some are advocating that the n-word be banished from America’s lexicon, who is the voice for the 7.5 million Americans with intellectual disabilities who truly are mentally retarded? Who is defending their dignity while everyday folks — educated adults at that — take a term that clinically applies to the disabled and use it as an insult?”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-07-04-opcom_N.htm?csp=34

The group of AAIDD experts responsible for defining the condition of intellectual disability to the world now explains the move away from the word “mental retardation” to the term intellectual disability in an article published in the April issue of the journal, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. “At the heart of this shift is the understanding that this term covers the same population of individuals who were diagnosed previously with mental retardation in number, kind, level, type, and duration of the disability and the need of people with this disability for individualized services and supports,” explain Robert Schalock et al. in “The Renaming of Mental Retardation: Understanding the Change to the Term Intellectual Disability.”

 About Intellectual Disability
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=306&id=1876

To the gentleman who took time to write and tell us, “surely,  you must have something better to do”  we would ask, “don’t you?”  To those who send us adolescent graphics depicting messages mocking people with disabilities we would also ask, “why do you hate people with disabilites?”

Its easy to deny a problem, or make fun of it.  People do that every day using the word ‘retard’ as the links and pages on our site readily show but that doesn’t make it right.  The fact is when you use the word ‘retard’ to describe someone or something you think is bad it becomes another thoughtless hurtful word.

Once you know that when used in a thoughtless or spiteful way,  the word ‘retard’ hurts people with disabilites it becomes a choice on your part.  By using it in that manner you are choosing to hurt.

 Now that you know, why would you continue to use it in that way?

The message of this site is very simple.  We tried to write it as simply as we could so it would be easily understandable.  It is so simple in fact that some people do not seem to understand it. 

While mental retardation is not a bad word, when used to describe someone or something you think is bad it becomes another thoughtless hurtful word. People with mental retardation are not bad, their condition is not bad, the prejudice and discrimination to people with mental retardation is BAD…and WRONG!

Please stop using the word ‘retard’, it hurts people with disabilities.

While its probably not an accurate meter of social awareness it is interesting to note what people are looking for on the Internet when they use the search term “retard”. 

Here is today’s top ten search terms from some of the Internet’s major sites.  Would our society settle for this if the word retard was replaced with a racial slur?

Google
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal 

1. retard
2. retard jokes
3. burgerking retard
4. retard song
5. rappin retard
6. burger king retard 
7. gary retard
8. bk retard
9. rapping retard
10. retards

Yahoo/Overture
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

1. retard
2. retard sex
3. retard porn
4. guitar kid pokemon retard sing singing webtard
5. gary the retard
6. i retard should
7. retard pic
8. retard o bot
9. retard picture
10. tenuate retard  

 YouTube – Search results for “Retard” about 25,800
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=retard&search=Search

1. BF2 Retard
2. The Retard Hunter
3. Rosie O’Donnel Retard
4. Basketball Retard
5. F**n’ Redneck Retard! (A Double Slur!)
6. ET the Retard
7. Funny Stupid Retard Moron
8. jaike is a creepy retard
9. Beetlejuice vs. Gary the Retard
10.Ultimate BK Retard Ding Fries Are Done Tribute

A slur is defined as, “To talk about disparagingly or insultingly.”  Far more recognized in our society is the term ‘racial slur’.  A racial slur is defined as “A derogatory or disrespectful nickname for a racial group, used without restraint.”

We came across this from a recent MySpace Bulletin: “… is like racing in the special olympics; even if you win, you’re still retarded.”

What is the difference in this and derogatory comparisons of people’s skin color?  If we accept that one kind of slur is wrong, why is another kind acceptable?

Here are some others we have heard recently directed towards people with disabilities.

“They have the best parking places in the world.”

“I don’t know why they let those people live.”

Activists back plan to rename state Department of Mental Retardation

By Dirk Perrefort
THE NEWS-TIMES
DANBURY — Patricia Healy doesn’t like it when people use the “R” word — in fact, it offends her.Healy, a Ridgefield resident with Down syndrome who works at The Greenery Cafe on Main Street, said people who use the word “retarded” usually don’t realize the negative effect it has on those with disabilities.

“It’s degrading, and it doesn’t sound right,” said Healy, 51.

“When people use the ‘R’ word they are making fun of us,” she said. “But it doesn’t hurt me as much as it hurts them. It shows their ignorance.”

( Follow this link for the rest of the story: http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1045771 )

One Student Would Like the Word To Not Be Used Anymore

(CBS) CHICAGO What’s in a word?

When a word is used carelessly, it can be hurtful, even if it’s not meant to be.

CBS 2’s Rob Johnson has the story of a suburban high school student whose mission is to stop people from using the slur “retard,” or what others might call the “R” word.

Soeren Palumbo of Palatine may look like any other Fremd High School student.

But he’s not. Two months ago, at the school’s writer’s week event, this 18-year-old senior gave the speech of a lifetime.

“In an era of political correctness, why is it that retard is still ok?” he said. “Why do we allow it? Why don’t we stop using the word.”

( Entire Article: http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_112214637.html )

(Read Soeren’s Entire Speech: http://www.specialolympics.org/Special+Olympics+Public+Website/English/Press_Room/Global_news/ARC+of+Illinois+Reprint.htm )