Robbie is a six-year-old kindergartner at a Madison school. He loves all things Disney, will embrace any opportunity he can get to show you his Spongebob backpack and will pout excessively when you end his Dora the Explorer episode early. If you offer him a hug, you can be sure to get a long, sloppy kiss on the cheek with it. By many standards, Robbie is a typical kindergartner with the lone exception being he has Down syndrome.
Robbie often has to repeat himself four or five times for even his closest of friends to understand his response to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question. He knows other words, but has stopped trying to say them because he knows that nobody other than his four-year-old brother will understand. While his classmates are working on spelling words, he is working on tracing circles—often unsuccessfully. Robbie puts a valiant effort into everything he does, but frequently is met with disappointment in the end result of this effort.
A couple of decades ago, the technical term for Robbie’s condition was “mentally retarded.” Since then, the world has recognized that this term does not envelop all that there is to be said about Robbie, and that a more proper way to describe him is as a “person with a cognitive disability.” Because his disability is not all there is to him. Most importantly, he is a person.
Now, the word “retarded” has developed into a synonym for “ridiculous,” “crazy,” “obnoxious,”“messed up,” “idiotic” and a slew of other unflattering adjectives. Many of us have become so immune to hearing this that we have completely ignored the implications that come with it.
We can think of very few instances when calling someone the r-word is intended to be anything other than derogatory. Nobody wants to be called it. Using it with such intentions implies that these individuals with disabilities are people you would not want to be; that they have so many negative characteristics about them that a retired description of their mental capabilities is enough of an insult that it warrants being the catch phrase to describe any absurdity.
This is not okay. So many of us have become so used to hearing the word in a social setting that we fail to even notice when it is said. It has become socially acceptable for a single word to label a specific group of individuals as the embodiment of “ridiculous,” “obnoxious,” “messed up,” “idiotic.” And since the group this damages often faces barriers to standing up for themselves, we have for too long failed to recognize how detrimental and backwards using the r-word is.
The superiority so many people without disabilities for some reason feel entitled to over these individuals simply because they were born with different mental characteristics than us has allowed us to become bullies. Whether we realize it or not, when we say the r-word, we assert our dominance over the silent minority.
And this completely normalized bullying will not stop until we make it stop. Each person has to make the conscious decision to eradicate the r-word from his or her vocabulary. Until this happens, we inherently admit that we are OK further marginalizing the already marginalized; that somehow Robbie is less of a human being than we are. March 5 was Spread the Word to End the Word awareness day. As 21st century citizens, it is our duty to step up and sign the pledge to end the word.
Do you believe that our society should cease using the word “retarded” to describe an individual or a group of individuals? Will you personally commit to stop saying the word? Please send all of your feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
