luni, 20 februarie 2017

The Importance Of The R Word Pledge

By Douglas Howard


A national campaign has been launched called The Spread the Word to End the Word in which the main goal is to encourage the people to make a pledge on stopping the use of retard word. According to the advocates of this campaign, it is very hurtful whenever the term will be used in colloquial and everyday speech. It dehumanizes those individuals with intellectual disabilities. The use of languages that respect the persons dignity is being advocated.

The advocates believe as well that the individuals with some disabilities in their cognitive aspect or if they have other developmental disabilities are capable of enjoying the experiences in their lives. Having casual references to this can, for sure, let a certain person feel he or she is being less than human. Thus, this is one of the common reasons why it is very important to have the R word pledge.

Retard would really mean a lot to the disabled persons whenever they hear it, and even to those who really care for them. For them, this means that they are not like those normal ones and are far different from them. And they often think that they are the kinds of people that no one would ever want to be, and thus, making them feel they are being left alone.

All the words do matter if these are being used anytime and anywhere. Scoffing towards the others about a particular topic is really not necessary just for a point to be made. Each of the person has an own gift and one important thing here is recognizing these gifts. It literally means that through this, being better is what them world can surely achieved.

When the word retard is spoken, it can be compared to saying that a certain person is mentally handicapped or stupid. Usually, this term is used to be spoken or stated in the most disrespectful manner. And thus, it simply implies considering stupidity as the main characteristic which a mentally handicapped individual possesses.

There is this belief that the most hurtful thing could be language rather than actions. Most especially if you are already aware about the impact of your oral transgression. Thus, saying that there is no mistake that words do hurt. So if you have been peppering the words either retard or retarded, it means you are also spreading hurt.

This term is considered as hate speech because persons can be offended both those with development disabilities such as intellectually and those people who care for them and support them. It excludes and alienates them. It emphasizes those negative stereotypes which are surrounding disabled persons. There are some who still believe in the traditional way in which these were being hidden away and segregated from society.

And since it became a casual description for the flaws and negativity, the word retarded could be no longer appropriate for the persons with intellectual disabilities. Thus, using this in any ways such as not being intended to be offensive or as slang, it would still be hurtful. The reason is because this is still associated with the mentally disabled persons.

There are really a lot of people who do not understand how much they hurt other people when they hate or maybe they have not realized yet that they are hating. However, they need to know that at times when they take preemptive dismissal, dehumanize, and mock them, these are forms of hate already. This can be more hateful than sexism, racism, etc.




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