i recently read an article written by a college student imploring her fellow peers to stop using the word "retarded."
the article was concise, well-articulated, and clear in its message. the word retarded has been socially constructed over the years into an extremely negative slang word used to describe someone who is "slow." i was thinking, "what an interesting article; girl power to the author" until.... i saw comments at the end of the post. the first: "this article is retarded." followed by: "whoever wrote this is a retard." and my personal favortie: "this person is being over-sensitive." SERIOUSLY? today. this shit is happening today? in a time when there are more developmental disabilities to name and the autism spectrum is growing at the fastest rate in its history. in a time where a projected 1 in 5 students will have a disability of some sort during his/her school career. in a time when women are running for president and children of every race, religion, and background play together at recess and on the same soccer team. you're going to have the audacity to use a word so grossly rooted in hate and fear? MY SIX YEAR OLDS UNDERSTAND ACCEPTANCE BETTER THAN YOU. the fact of the matter is simple: retarded is an ugly, hateful, cruel word and if that isn't enough to make you think before speaking then perhaps base not saying it off of the millions of children, teenagers, and adults who are living with disabilities in the united states alone. quite frankly the only "slow" individuals in my mind are the ones who can't wrap their heads around the indecency of being rude and unkind with their words. in my classroom we talk almost daily about the impact of our rhetoric. how even when we don't mean for something to be offensive we can hurt others. if you wouldn't use the word in front of someone with a disability isn't that a pretty clear indication that you shouldn't be saying it at all? i'm so tired of the excuses, "my parents say it, my grandparents say it." YOU are the only person responsible for what comes out of YOUR mouth. so do us all a favor and shape up. coming at you live from the soapbox, ld p.s in response to the over-sensitive comment: no, we're not being over-sensitive...you're being an over-wordicantsaybecausekidsreadthis.
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