Wednesday, March 2, 2011

How "retardation" went from a clinical description to a word of derision

The effects of the R-word on people with ID and their families and friends

When they were originally introduced, the terms “mental retardation” or “mentally retarded” were medical terms with a specifically clinical connotation; however, the pejorative forms, “retard” and “retarded” have been used widely in today’s society to degrade and insult people with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, when “retard” and “retarded” are used as synonyms for “dumb” or “stupid” by people without disabilities, it only reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities being less valued members of humanity. Please help spread the word to end the R-word!

http://www.r-word.org/

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