A Parent's Point of View

Take the sting out of words

by John P. Cleary

December 5, 2009

It is time to retire the term "mentally retarded" once and for all.

Mentally retarded once referred to a specific set of medical and developmental conditions. As such, it was part of the language used in developing treatments and services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In New York, for example, the state agency that oversees services for people with intellectual disabilities is the Office for Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

Unfortunately, retarded entered the common vernacular as synonyms for idiotic or stupid, and "retard" came to be a derogatory term for anyone thought to be clueless or dumb. It is a mean thing to call anyone, and its continued and often offhand slang use is insulting to people with intellectual disabilities.

I am the father of developmentally disabled children, and I have worked with and become friends with many people with developmental or intellectual disabilities. I can tell you, for some of them, "retard" is as derogatory and painful as the worst racial epithets.

The negative associations with the words "mentally retarded" have overtaken its clinical sense. And just as those of us who have friends and relatives with developmental disabilities have been working to squash the use of "retard" as a heartless insult, families and organizations have begun battling against its use in public policy.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a Democrat from Maryland, has introduced a bill to eliminate the words "mentally retarded" and "mental retardation" from federal statutes and policies. The terms would be replaced with "intellectual disability" and "person with an intellectual disability." The bill is named Rosa's Law after Rosa Marcellino, a Maryland girl whose family has pushed for changes in that state's use of the negative language.

Already, there has been progress on this front.

Recently, Ohio renamed its agency for services for people with developmental disabilities, and an executive order changed the President's Committee on Mental Retardation to the Committee on Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have adopted the new language, as has the World Health Organization.

Oh, I can hear some of your grumbling already about political correctness and such. I'm not interested in your complaints. If a group tells you a word or language is painful to them, to continue using those terms is mean - plain and simple.

When words hurt, we have an obligation to let them drop from our discourse. Stop using the word "retard," and tell your lawmakers to support Rosa's Law.

John Cleary is a former Neighbors columnist for the Star-Gazette.

This is a reprint of an article that appeared in the December 5, 2009 Elmira Star Gazette .

(John Cleary is the parent of children with developmental disabilities and a writer/journalist who resides in the Southern Tier of New York.)