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Thursday, April 2, 2009

The r-word

It is time we SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD!
March 31, 2009 is a national day of awareness for America to stop and think about their use of the R-word. That R-word is not “recession,” but something more hurtful and painful – “retard.” Most people don’t think of this word as hate speech, but that’s exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities, their families and their friends.
This word is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur.
Visit www.r-word.org to learn more and pledge to help make a difference.

6 comments:

mommynolan said...

I don't recall allowing any of you to use the r word in our home. I think being over weight I was sensitive to any words that cause stereotyping and pain. All of them should be done away with!

Thanks for the reminder.

skipper said...

My dad worked for Rehabilitation Services (for the state) the whole time I was growing up so he dealt with an interesting array of difficulties. Needless to say, that word was not allowed when I was growing up and it's never been allowed in my home since.
There are too many words that demean and propagate hatred in our language, I'm grateful that people are standing up to at least one of them!

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I've been guilty of that one. Not frequently. And not really anymore. It's only been more recently that I've heard the uproar about it's use. I understand what that's all about. I just never meant for it to carry that derrogatory connotation. What about 'stupid' or 'dumb'? Granted, these names are not allowed in our home, but aren't they very common?

Lexy said...

Thanks to my mom too we were never allowed to use that word and now it's still never in our vocabulary any degrading name should be done away with.

Ashlee said...

Thanks for the reminder about this Becca. We all need to be more conscious of what we are saying. Even when we don't mean to hurt others it probably happens more frequently than we know. Also I am really sorry to hear about your mom. I hope everything goes well. Hugs from me :)

something very bright said...

Definitely. This and other derogatory words need to be wiped out. I'm glad there's a movement that is aiming to do so.