The Skinny on Retarded

Anger, hurt feelings, confusion and ignorance surround the word "retarded". Many good posts have been written about experiences with the word. There's even a day to raise awareness and educate people about why it is not an acceptable way to describe things that are dumb or stupid. People who use retarded to describe a situation, saying or person, that in their opinion is stupid, do not realize that they are unwittingly applying a negative definition to retarded.

Ben is mentally retarded. It is okay to use those words in that context. There is a move to use different words like cognitively delayed and intellectually disabled because of the negative connotation mentally retarded has been given over the past several decades.

I think most people who use the word retarded or retard do so because it is something they have always said. Sometimes a bit of education and an effort to break a bad habit is all it takes. So spread the word, stop using the word in the wrong context.

PS -This link was sent to me and I thought I would add to this post. USA Today Story

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