Last year in the school yard, children repeatedly asked my son if his sister was retarded. When he finally told me about it I was ready to bang some heads together. Luckily my child is more mature than his hot-headed mother. He chose to take action by making this VIDEO to present to his peers resulting in meaningful conversations and a greater understanding about what it’s like to have a sibling with special needs.
The fact is, children follow so it’s our job as adults to be kind, educated, moral leaders. When adults don’t set a good example we end up with a new generation of ignorant, intolerant adults.
Out for dinner recently an adult at our table joked about something retarded they did at work. I was shocked, but I didn’t say anything.
How is this still happening in 2014?
If I stay silent I’m part of the problem. This frustrates me. As the parent of a child with special needs am I expected to police the internet and the world around me like an R-word detecting watch dog? I’d really rather not.
You might think that retard(ed) is merely a word and that we—the people
who love someone with special needs—are just overly sensitive. Fine, but when when you KNOW that this word hurts a significant portion of the population, why would you deliberately choose (yes it’s a choice) to
continue to use it anyway? Is your vocabulary that limited? May I lend you my thesaurus?
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| Alison Rowan created this awesome image! http://www.alisonrowan.com |
The Spread the Word to End the Word campaign (the first Wednesday of March annually) asks people to pledge to stop saying the R-word as a starting point toward creating more accepting attitudes and communities for all people. Language affects attitudes and attitudes affect actions.” Source
Related:
A Different Kind of R-Word Post
My First R-Word Rant
