Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The "R" Word
So I am diving into a post that I have been thinking about and losing sleep over for a long time now. My intentions are not to jump on my high horse and preach about things even foreign to me. My intentions are to bring awareness to those around me who love me and my family and to start making the changes in our small corner of the world that my daughter was sent here to make. The truth is...the word "retarded" is offensive to many people with special needs. I'm not gonna lie...I have used this word as slang before and never saw too much harm in it. However, things are different now and I am asking if we could all try a little harder to be sensitive to those around us. What if we all taught our kids who then could teach their kids who could teach their friends...what a difference we could make. I am so grateful to live in a community with such loving people who are supportive and encouraging. Lets spread the word....but not the "R" word. :)
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3 comments:
I was actually thinking about this a little while ago. I have also said the "R" word many times in my life as slang. It was never meant as something derogatory towards people with disabilities, but I realized a while back that it really is an insensitive word. After Emersen was born, I thought about it again. While I think I don't say it as much anymore (not that I said it a ton, but you know), but I'm not sure that I've completely rid my vocabulary of it. After your post, I really am going to make more of a conscience effort to not say it at all. Thank you for your post! Love all your cute babies and you!
I really liked this post, though I never commented on it. After I read it, I started to notice how much people say that word in their everyday language. Thanks for making me more aware!
btw, that website I told you about tonight it knockoffwood.blogspot.com.
I have just been reading your blog. It is so useful and honest. I really appreciated your feelings and honesty. As well, I really appreciated you discussing the use of the "r" word. I am a developmental services worker and an addiction counsellor who works with people who have mental illness. Labels an be very damaging regardless of what they are. Unfortunately, the "r" word is a clinical medical term in the DSM by the American Medical Association. This is unfortunatel because it gives people a license to use these words for both clinical and derogatory reasons. I am so glad that you addressed this. Please promote your blog on parenting sites i think that it could help a lot of people.
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