The R Word Pledge And The Reasons Of Its Importance

By Douglas Howard


The Spread the Word to End the Word is a national campaign which is being conducted for encouraging the people on pledging to stop the use of the retard word. The advocates in this campaign believed that using this term in colloquial and in everyday speech would be hurtful and as well as dehumanizing those individuals having intellectual disabilities. They advocate on using a language that would respect the dignity of these people.

The advocates believe as well that the individuals with some disabilities in their cognitive aspect or if they have other developmental disabilities are capable of enjoying the experiences in their lives. Having casual references to this can, for sure, let a certain person feel he or she is being less than human. Thus, this is one of the common reasons why it is very important to have the R word pledge.

Retard would really mean a lot to the disabled persons whenever they hear it, and even to those who really care for them. For them, this means that they are not like those normal ones and are far different from them. And they often think that they are the kinds of people that no one would ever want to be, and thus, making them feel they are being left alone.

All words would really matter when being used anywhere and anytime. There is no need to scoff about something towards others just to make a point. Each person has his or her gift and what is important is to recognize these gifts. This literally means, and through this, the world will surely become better.

When the word retard is spoken, it can be compared to saying that a certain person is mentally handicapped or stupid. Usually, this term is used to be spoken or stated in the most disrespectful manner. And thus, it simply implies considering stupidity as the main characteristic which a mentally handicapped individual possesses.

There is one belief before and even until now, it states that words spoken are much more hurtful than actions done especially when you are aware already on the impact of own oral transgression. And thus, saying no mistake is stated that words can really hurt. So when either of the words retarded or retard are being peppered, you are spreading hurt as well.

This term has been considered as a hate speech since it can offend persons having intellectual or developmental disabilities and even to other people who are showing care and support to them. This can both exclude and alienate them. It is emphasizing some negative stereotypes that are surrounding the disabled persons. According to some, they still believe in a traditional way of segregating and hiding away these people from the society.

And since it became a casual description for the flaws and negativity, the word retarded could be no longer appropriate for the persons with intellectual disabilities. Thus, using this in any ways such as not being intended to be offensive or as slang, it would still be hurtful. The reason is because this is still associated with the mentally disabled persons.

There are really a lot of people who do not understand how much they hurt other people when they hate or maybe they have not realized yet that they are hating. However, they need to know that at times when they take preemptive dismissal, dehumanize, and mock them, these are forms of hate already. This can be more hateful than sexism, racism, etc.




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