Ban the 'r' word!

Originally posted on 9/8/09
Today after school I was in the car with Teddy when I heard a report on NPR about the 'r' word.Rethinking 'Retarded': Should It Leave The Lexicon? Of course, the story peaked my interest for several reasons. First and foremost, my son had a stroke at birth and as a result has an intellectual disbability. I wanted to listen to the story, but I didn't want him to hear the 'r' word even in this context, so I turned it off and correctly assumed I could find the story online. It is amazing how many people use the 'r' word or similar cutdowns either for a laugh or to express their superiority. Just last weekend my wife and I turned off Saturday Night Live because the first act after the monologue featured a non flattering portrayal of an intellectually and physically disabled person as a singer on the Lawrence Welk Show. We hadn't watched SNL in several years and we both hoped that we wouldn't hear the 'r' word or something similar, but amazingly it only took about 5 minutes for them to take a low blow at people with disabilities. We have also heard family members that should know better use the 'r' word and once I heard our former assistant principal explain a problem student this way: "well, what do you expect, he rides the 'short bus'".I do think we are making improvement in this area and on this word. Last year on Channel 1, which airs everyday in my high school, there was a commercial that ran sponsored by the Special Olympics which asked students not to use the 'r' word. I think it made an impact. Instead of hearing it 20 times a day in the hallway, I might hear it twice a day and so far this school year I have only had to talk with 2 students who used it in class.We are making headway, but as a society we still have a long way to go. I read an article in the New York Times in 2007 that pointed out that about 90% of women that were given a Down Syndrome diagnosis chose to have an abortion. A sobering statistic about attitudes many people may have about my own son, but I think banning the 'r' word can only help.