I strongly support the change
of “mental retardation” to “intellectual disability”. “Mental retardation” is a
name that has grown to have entirely too much stigma surrounding it. I still,
to this day, hear people jokingly say, “Man you’re retarded” or “that’s retarded”.
The stigma of the phrase has to stop! The Howard Stern show even has a guy that
they call “Gary the Retard” that they use for entertainment because of his “intellectual
disability”. Even a MLB pitcher, John Lackey for the Boston Red Sox, was being
interviewed and said “This is retarded ...” (he later on apologized).
The
problem is that a lot of people just use the word and don’t really even realize
what they are saying or that they are offending people that are “intellectually
disabled”. Click here
for a great article on why one person stopped using the word “retarded”
Bottom line…the word is used
to often and it needs to be changed.
Fortunately there has been
some good initiative into changing this phrase. “In October 2010, President Obama
signed Rosa's Law, which removes the terms "mental retardation" and
"mentally retarded" from federal health, education and labor policy,
and replaces them with "intellectual disability." (REILLY , 2011) This law that President Obama signed
and a change in the DSM-V are a great start to eliminating the word from
legal/medical documentation, but unfortunately, in my opinion, the word will never be eradicated
from the mouths of society.
Click here for a great site about stopping the
use of the “R” word.
Resources:
Opinion-awareness-effort-help-end-stigma-of-mental-illness. (2012, March 29). Retrieved from
http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x777658869/OPINION-Awareness-effort-help-end-stigma-of-mental-illness
REILLY , P. J. (2011, July
13). Proposed name shift would battle stigma. Retrieved from http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/420983_Proposed-name-shift-would-battle-stigma.html
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