Essay On The Word Retard

“That’s so retarded”. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have personally used or heard this phrase or word used with friends, in classrooms and in hallways. I never knew that there was a negative connotation attached to it. The word was used so loosely that parents and older siblings never thought to correct me. Funny enough, my sister adopted a baby from my aunt who was born with autism. Sweet Templar was born with autism, and my family continued to use the word “retarded” without ever considering her feelings or how it made us look to others. I think back to when we used such offense words without the thought of the after effects. Such derogatory terms as the ‘R” word has led to extreme emotional, mental and physical pain.

Karleigh Jones, a Special Olympics New Zealand athlete said that “The word retard is considered hate speech because it offends people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as the people that care for and support them. It alienates and excludes them. It also emphasizes the negative stereotypes surrounding people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; the common belief that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities should be segregated, hidden away from society, which, in my opinion, is really old fashioned.” A lot of people use the word “retarded”, but many don’t know the origin of the word or fully understand what it means. According to pacer teens against bulling, the word “retarded” is simply derived from an old-fashioned medical term for people with intellectual disabilities. The “R” word was used to describe a medical condition like “asthma or pneumonia.” That’s a far cry from what we use the word for in present day, the word has morphed into something negative and offensive. It’s used to insult someone or something considered to be lesser in some