Should the 'R' Word Be Banned in Schools?

In early September, several teens in Ohio persuaded an autistic teen to participate in an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. But instead of ice water, the teens poured feces, urine, cigarette butts and spit onto the boy.

News of the incident was widely met with outrage and scorn for teens who apparently thought little about bullying a person with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

But every day, another form of degradation of such people slips by, in many circles without any challenge whatsoever: It’s the use of the word “retarded,” regarded as an offensive term used to describe those with autism and IDDs, but still in everyday use.

More than nine in 10 U.S. youths between the ages of 8 to 18 have heard others say the “R word,” as it has become known, and most of those have heard it used by their peers at school, according to a Special Olympics Global Collaborating Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Harris Interactive survey.

“People who don’t know anyone with IDD oftentimes don’t think about people with disabilities unless it comes up in the media,“ said Michael Pearson, director of expansion and training at Best Buddies International.

• Should the “R” word be forbidden in schools? Is it necessary for schools to increase awareness of intellectual disabilities? Tell us in the comments section below.

The term “mental retardation” was replaced by the term “intellectual disability” in federal legislation in 2010. Although the “R” word no longer exists in health, education and labor laws, organizations across the globe are still campaigning to eliminate the word in casual speech. The “R” word, used maliciously or otherwise, still puts down those with IDD, Pearson said.

About 1.7 million students in the U.S., ages 6 to 21, are classified with intellectual disabilities, according to the 2012 Office of Special Education Programs Annual Report to Congress.

“The word itself has grown to mean a lot of different things, but ultimately, it still carries a harmful effect to those with disabilities,” he said.

Kids mostly say the word when calling someone dumb, says Erin Fitzgibbons, a fourth-grade special education teacher at Bowne-Munro Elementary School in East Brunswick, NJ.

“It’s offensive to those with problems and it’s also offensive to those who know someone with problems,” she said. “They’re not dumb, they just learn at a different pace than everyone else.”

One of best ways for students to understand the impact of the word is to bring a person with an intellectual disability into schools to speak about his or her personal story, Pearson said.

The nonprofit Best Buddies brings people with IDD to schools across the country to share their experiences with the “R” word through its Ambassadors program and the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign, which the organization sponsors with the Special Olympics and more than 200 other groups.

Some schools or organizations may forbid the use of the term, but Pearson doesn’t think a ban is necessary. He and Fitzgibbons prefer to have a discussion with students about the word and its dehumanizing impact on others.

“They should understand how a simple word could hurt someone’s feelings,” Fitzgibbons said.

Pearson echoes Fitzgibbons and said recognizing those with IDD as people with feelings can help the cause.

“When you get to know someone, it becomes a lot more difficult to use that word, because you realize people with disabilities are first and foremost human beings,” Pearson said.

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Patch has previously posted articles on the hateful use of the “R” word in Brookfield, WI, Libertyville, IL, Highland Park, IL, and Cranston, RI.