the R word

Though it has become more accepted among people, there is still an overwhelming amount of negativity about people with disabilities. Those with disabilities are often portrayed as stupid and uneducated, naive and unable to understand what is going on around them, or loud and obsessive. Though there are varying degrees of disability that may handicap one individual more than another - limiting their abilities - this is not the case for every individual with a disability.

Two summers ago, I nannied a 5 year old boy with down syndrome. Yes, his speaking, learning, and physical abilities were not that of the average 5 year old, but he was still capable of knowing what was going on. He knew what was right and wrong, how people were treating him, who the people were around him, when he was in trouble, etc. Yet the people around us would smother him constantly - excusing bad behavior because he "didn't know what he was doing" and trying to do things for him because he was "not smart enough to do them himself". This really bothered me because I was with this little boy 24 hours a day and I knew very early on that he knew he wasn't supposed to throw sand, how to put his own swim shorts on, and when people were treating him differently than they were treating his brother. Circling through the internet is a series of memes about a girl with down syndrome. On each meme is the same image of a girl with down syndrome. The message is simple - she is dumb, often answering "potato" when it is inappropriate or doesn't make sense. 

     

Just as this image of people with disabilities has become more common, the mocking and making fun of disabilities has too. The "r-word" has become too common - something even young children say without thinking twice. It's turned into an insult, as if being disabled is something of disgust. Anything displeasing, obnoxious, dumb, disliked, can be labeled as "retarded" and it's understood in the same way. Not only is it used as an insult, the r-word is used as an incorrect and offensive label of a group of people. Calling or referring to someone with a disability as 'retarded' is not only incorrect but cruel. In reality, the r-word is just as derogatory as the n-word and should be treated as such. I can think of fewer things as unkind as creating a name to mock of who someone is and using that name as a general insult. People with disabilities are still people. They are daughters, sons, aunts, uncles. They are human beings and should be treated as such.  

Several webpages, similar to the one below, 

casually use the r-word in titles, headlines, and articles.

http://media.gunaxin.com/top-ten-funniest-movie-retards/23838

The movie "Ted" has a whole scene where the main character, who is also a teddy bear, jokes using the r-word. I didn't attach the video directly because the clip contains a lot of bad language, but I'll attach the link. It's a perfect example of using the r-word in a very offensive (and incorrect) way. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuI9s4QraU