I know I completely failed on my posting calender, and I am sorry for that. But summer is here so I am going to be back to posting and making sure this blog stays more active with my typical things
I just want to warn you before I continue with this post, that this will be a really serious moment for me on here. This isn't something I always do, but I really felt that I needed to do this today. I'm sorry, I just really needed to vent about this.
So today, as I try to do every day, I was reading news articles on various websites to become informed on what is going on in this crazy world we live in. One such article I read during my new time was an article from Huffington Post titled "The Supreme Court Takes a Stand on the Term 'Mental Retardation'",which you can read here if you want to. In this article, the journalist spoke of how the Supreme Court just took a stand on the issue of the "R" word, and that they chose that it was a derogatory term that should not be used. She also brought up the 4 most commonly used excuses that people use to justify their use of the word, and responses people should use to combat their ignorance. Along with this article, there was also a link to a video, which you can watch right below. Warning, it is fairly emotional. It is the story of Max, a child, the journalist's son, who suffers from brain damage.
As I was watching the video above, which is titled "Would You Call My Child Retarded?" I was over-joyed with how well the issue was addressed, and I found myself falling in love with Max's beautiful smile. I found the whole video to be perfect, taking my thoughts on the "R" word and putting them into words in a way that I never could do myself.
These feelings of joy were destroyed when I saw the comments though. Most were correcting the mother, saying things like "Mental Retardation means the slower development of the person's mental capabilities, so yes, I would call your son a retard, as that is the medical term issued to his condition. Others weren't even that kind, being blunt with responses like "you're child's a retard, sorry lady", "I don't care about your child", and "RETAAAAARDED".
Then I saw one comment in particular that someone left. In the comment, the poster said, and I quote with a few minor corrections added by me to clarify, "Mentally
Really? so we should just teach people to be embarrassed of how they were born, and that we should just hide it away instead of embracing who we are? that rather than educating people to not be rude towards others, and to actually think before they open their mouth, we should just teach people to be scared of what others are going to think and to cower in fear of those who open their mouth and speak before they think? that's like teaching a kid that they should be scared of their bully rather than teaching children not to bully in the first place, or telling a person not to feel pain when a child hurts them rather than disciplining the child who is being violent. I'm sorry, but I call this the "just brush it under the rug" mentality, and honestly, I find that mentality to be ridiculous.
I know this issue all too well. I personally have a brother and an uncle with disabilities. Many times, I have had people say that my brother looks retarded, or tell me I'm too sensitive when I tell them that I do not like the use of the "R" word, and try to explain my reasoning. We shouldn't be telling people with disabilities to hide who they are, or telling families and friends of them to not talk about them or to not let the word burn them so much. People with disabilities are not ugly sweaters or dust bunnies that we can just hide away and *poof*, they're gone. They're people too, and they deserve as much love and respect as any other human does. They do not deserve you saying "Well actually..." and making an excuse to justify your ignorance.
Please, take the time to visit the "Spread the Word to End the Word" Campaign's website a
and take the pledge. Honest ignorance of how this word effects people is understandable, some people truly don't understand. Please, don't be an intentional asshole though and continue using the word. It really does hurt people.
-Taylor
