Blog Post 3- The R Word

We have been speaking since we came out of the womb, from baby babble to the real words of the English language. We have nice words to describe people like nice, handsome, kind, compassionate, etc. But, we also have not so nice words like bitch, slut, dick, etc. And lastly we have words that we just throw around like “gay” and “retarded”. The word I choose for this blog post is “retarded”.

I chose the word retarded because I throw it around a lot. I sometimes say to my family when they are being slow or being even funny, I will say “you’re retarded” or “you’re being retarded”. I have never used it in a bad way or used it to put someone down. I also do not call people I don’t know these words. My mother and I have called each other retards since I was in my teens. Neither one of us take offense to it, it is just a joking around type of thing. I even call myself retarded sometimes. If I do something wrong or if I know something but I cannot think of it and then when I do I would be like “I feel retarded.”

It was not until I got with my fiancée` that I have been trying to not say this word so much. He has a younger sister that as Retts Syndrome and really is mentally retarded. He does not take offense to the word when it is used, but his other younger sister does, and I also feel bad saying that word now that I really know someone that is that word. It changes everything when it is a “hit home” kind of thing.

The definition of retarded is “slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The word retarded is from Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin. The first known use of the word was in the 15th century (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

The word retarded went from a clinical description to a hateful derogatory word. When the word was first introduced, it was introduced as “mentally retarded” or “mental retardation” and it was a medical term that had a specific clinical connotation. Now the words “retard” and “retarded” are thrown around in today’s society to insult people. Also, when people without disabilities use the word to replace “stupid” and “dumb” it only “reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities being less valued members of humanity” (r-word.org). It is like we have talked about in class these last few weeks about dehumanizing people and this is a great way that we of society do that, with just a simple word like retard.

I feel the people that are most likely to throw the word retarded or retard around is our generation and mostly the generation after us. I think teens from like the age of twelve to age of sixteen or seventeen are the most likely to use these words.

The communities that are impacted by this word the most is the “mentally retarded” community. They are being dehumanized each time everyone outside that community used the words retarded and retard to dehumanize someone else. This word is not acceptable by really anyone. I think whether you are “mentally retarded” or not I do not think it is acceptable to use.

Yes, there are people that want us to stop using the word in the way we do. The whole reason of r-word.org is for a pledge not to say the word.

I think you can relate this to when we read about the labeling theory. Howard S. Becker says in his labeling theory that “Social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders” (Howard S. Becker, as in the book Readings in Deviant Behavior). We label mentally retarded people as the outsiders; therefore we make the mentally retarded have the label of deviant.

I also think that calling people retards or retarded and dehumanizing them also relates to the movie that we watch in class called “Murderball” staring Mark Zupan. The movie talked about how people in wheelchairs are dehumanized and looked at like they are less than people that have an able body. That is similar to people that are mentally retarded, they are looked at as less than people who are not mentally retarded.

We read a blog about the good cripple and the supercrip. Lastly, being mentally retarded would not fall into the good cripple or the supercrip, I don’t think so at least. I do feel that we feel bad for these people and always wish they were more like us.

Being mentally retarded is hard enough for people but I think we could make it a little easier if we didn’t throw the word retard or retarded around like we do in today’s society. So next time you go to say “your retarded” or something similar, maybe take a second look at that!

Word Count: 840

Becker, Howard S. "Labeling Theory." Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2010. 39-41. Print.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retarded
http://www.r-word.org/r-word-why-pledge.aspx
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/the-transcontinental-disability-choir-disability-archetypes-the-good-cripple