The Special Olympics launched a campaign Tuesday to banish the word "retard," a casual insult that derives from an out-of-favor medical term and has long been considered inappropriate by people who are not retarded.
As such, the American Association of Mental Retardation changed its name in 2007 to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, thereby lengthening their name, and, therefore, right-sizing their name. In another sign that the formal use of the term "mentally retarded" had lost currency, The Associated Press replaced it in its stylebook in 2008 with "mentally disabled," though even that term is considered offensive by some since it places the emphasis on the DIS-ability and not the A-bility. It's a fine distinction.
Those seeking to end the term's use face a difficult battle.
But the manpower behind the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign comes from the students who devised the campaign last month during a Special Olympics youth summit in Idaho and organized rallies around the country while not paying attention to the word "special" in Special Olympics and the negative connotations that phrase has. Nor did they acknowledge that the Special Olympics serves as a way to showcase the disability rather than the ability.
'The R-word'At Bowie High School in Maryland, experienced and well-established in the field of linguistic torture, 18-year-old Shannan Barksdale helped gather 861 pledges that will be sent to the Special Olympics organization. During the school's lunch periods, Barksdale yelled, "Say no to the R-word!" and urged students to sign pledges - though, in reality, the students who signed the pledges thought the "R-word" referred to "renaissance," a period of artistic explosion the students hated to study.
Special Olympics has enlisted actor John C. McGinley of the TV show "Scrubs" as a spokesman for the campaign. (How retarded is that? Scrubs?) McGinley, whose 11-year-old son has Down syndrome, said many people don't realize the word is hateful - even when used among people living in Democracies whose Bill of Rights guarentees free speech.
People with cognitive disabilities signed pledges not to use the word, and students who have never worked with the population gathered to denounce its use at rallies from Florida to Alaska. Over the long-term, organizers hope to change attitudes about people with mental disabilities, who number more than 190 million worldwide, according to the World Health Organization - which is retarded since the World Health Organization would do more for HEALTH than to ban a word.
"It's insulting, it's painful and it hurts people," said actor Eddie Barbanell, who has Down syndrome and appeared in the movie "The Ringer." "Get that word out! End the word! Bury it!" Eddie was then placed in a timeout room until he calmed down.
"People with intellectual disabilities themselves really mounted a movement that they did not want to be referred to with the word 'retarded,'" he slurred. "Why can't people just call us what we are - morons?"
As such, the American Association of Mental Retardation changed its name in 2007 to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, thereby lengthening their name, and, therefore, right-sizing their name. In another sign that the formal use of the term "mentally retarded" had lost currency, The Associated Press replaced it in its stylebook in 2008 with "mentally disabled," though even that term is considered offensive by some since it places the emphasis on the DIS-ability and not the A-bility. It's a fine distinction.Those seeking to end the term's use face a difficult battle.
"This word is deeply ingrained in our psyche - and in the South. It is used frequently on South Park and by school children across the country. It comes up in a lot of different contexts," said Andrew Imparato, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of People With Disabilities. "We have to kind of call it out and start a conversation about why it's not OK to use the word."
Among the signatures collected Tuesday were several that belonged to governors: In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — whose mother-in-law founded Special Olympics — signed a proclamation to stop using the word. Governor Schwarzenegger prefers the word "retahded."
But the manpower behind the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign comes from the students who devised the campaign last month during a Special Olympics youth summit in Idaho and organized rallies around the country while not paying attention to the word "special" in Special Olympics and the negative connotations that phrase has. Nor did they acknowledge that the Special Olympics serves as a way to showcase the disability rather than the ability.In Florida, an upstart idiot, 16-year-old Noah Gray organized a rally for some 600 students at Miami Palmetto Senior High School that featured a rap performance and a speech by Barbanell about his experiences of being called a "retard." As we know, any political cause gains momentum when expressed as a rap song, followed by a speech.
"Like many other high school students and adults, I used to use the word 'retarded' all the time," said Gray, who was invited to speak at last month's youth summit. "Since coming down from the Special Olympics, I have not used that word once ... and I'm discouraging other people" from using it. "Instead, I am asking people to use the words "slow" or "sandwich short of a picnic."
'The R-word'At Bowie High School in Maryland, experienced and well-established in the field of linguistic torture, 18-year-old Shannan Barksdale helped gather 861 pledges that will be sent to the Special Olympics organization. During the school's lunch periods, Barksdale yelled, "Say no to the R-word!" and urged students to sign pledges - though, in reality, the students who signed the pledges thought the "R-word" referred to "renaissance," a period of artistic explosion the students hated to study."The word should be eliminated from everyone's vocabulary," she said. "Even as I speak, I realize the word "retarded" should be eliminated completely. If we use the word "retarded," we are hurting the retarded people we are trying to help. That's just retarded."
Special Olympics has enlisted actor John C. McGinley of the TV show "Scrubs" as a spokesman for the campaign. (How retarded is that? Scrubs?) McGinley, whose 11-year-old son has Down syndrome, said many people don't realize the word is hateful - even when used among people living in Democracies whose Bill of Rights guarentees free speech."It's important to get under way before we all become retarded."
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