The “R” Word Every word is capable of possessing a power over a person. Words can have a multitude of meanings to every individual. To one person, a certain word is connotative with positive feelings and reminds them subconsciously of a good experience, while another person associates that exact same word with negative feelings and experiences. Every single word has an impact on people; some in particular can strike the wrong nerve in some people while others don’t think twice about it. The word retard exemplifies this dilemma; however, it has not always been such a controversial word. The origins of the word retard are from the Latin word retardāre, which means “to inhibit, discourage, or to lag behind”. The earliest time the word retarded was recorded was in the 1500s, making this word a relatively new word in the English language. At this time, retarded was used as a verb and was defined as “to put off to a later time; delay” (“Retarded”, OED). The word retarded has transformed throughout history. For example, it was used exclusively as a verb, and today the word retard is used as a noun and retarded is used as an adjective in very different contexts than those of the 1500s. Today’s society views this word as a negative term, but it was historically not always this way. The first time retard was used as a noun was in 1781 recorded in a …show more content…
The word had been in common use and this group strived to eliminate the inappropriate usage of the word and the phrase “mental retardation” all together and replace it with “intellectual disabilities”. With the beginning of the R-word campaign, in 2009, a group of students created the first annual day of “Spread the Word to End the Word”. The R-word campaign is important when considering the evolution of the way this word is viewed because it is seen as a swear
The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional
For this paper, I chose to take the Disability Implicit Association test and Race IAT test. For the Disability test I pretty much categorized good and bad words with images that were related to a disabled or abled person. It was very confusing because I kept getting the E and I mixed up.
This lack of correlation between facts and her claim happens throughout her entire article and really hurts the article's credibility. After listing a slew of facts and anecdotes her response was “I find these facts and statistics terrifying”, this explanation does not give any insight on why on I should stop saying “retard” or the consequences that saying has. Throughout her entire article the only real point that states why we shouldn't say the R-word is because it hurts her feelings. I belive that hurt feelings are not what I would call a good reason in an argument to ban the word retard. Her entire article is based on appealing to people's emotions rather than appealing to people’s logic. A great contrast to Patricia Bauer’s article is Christopher Fairman’s “The Case Against Banning the Word ‘Retard’. Although he uses less facts and statistics than Bauer’s article, he uses them in a more impactful way and states how the fact is connected on the use of the word. One such example of this is when he talks about the N-word as an
Labeling theory is an issue that has been raised that deserves a closer look. Labeling theory, the impression that the public labels certain people as different from the normal conduct. (Popple and Leighninger, 2011) Everyone labels in society. An actor can be labeled into a certain part thought out his/her career. A boss is labeled horrible for firing one individual. Society uses labels and it defines people. The book brought up two points of labeling that should be explored. The first point is the label of developmental disabilities will give a diagnosis. People who have developmental disabilities have it, and they cannot change the situation. It can be manageable, but there will always be the label. The second point is that the society label and perception of the label. There is a stigma in the public about developmental disabilities. Although more accepted than mental illness, developmental disability has a label of individuals being stupid and slow. Labeling theory can be seen throughout history. Chapter thirteen points out that history can shape individual’s label of developmentally disabilities.
In the modern society, millions of people realize that several offensive words with insulting taboo meanings heavily disturb their daily lives and break some special groups of people’s respect to push them to feel like outsiders of the whole society. As a result, more and more people join some underway movements to eliminate the use of these offensive words in people’s everyday speech and writing. However, these offensive words themselves are not the culprit, the bad meanings people attach are the problems and some other functions of the words are useful in the society. Christopher M. Fairman the author of “ Saying It Is Hurtful, Banning It Is Worse” also argues that although
are simply meaningless words meant to damage, humiliate and degrade certain groups of people. To prove those words worthless, the same groups of people that those hate words
Stupid, retarded, crazy, insane; throughout time, these words are used to explain the behaviors of the mentally ill. These are just words, right? Actually, these words can have hurtful connotations. Since the first individual with a mental illness walked this earth until now, hurtful labels have been assigned to them. But society does not stop with just words, there are also unfavorable mannerisms used to explain visually, stupid, retarded, crazy, or insane. These descriptive words and mannerisms used in jest amongst friends can cause distress to anyone who bears witnesses to include an individual who is intellectually disabled or mentally fragile. If we look at it from the perspective of the intellectually disabled, they have been
In “A Movie, A Word, and My Family’s Battle,” by Patricia Bauer makes an emotional argument that you cannot use the word “retard”, no matter how you mean it, without offending a large group of people while also setting back years of progress.
While the advocates are working towards helping those who suffer from this problem a simple fix has yet to be found. Many states and courts still disagree on the terminology that defines someone as mentally retarded and the definition can be very grey. With education, time and advocates those who truly suffer from this illness can seek intervention and still have their rights protected under the U. S. Constitution and the eighth amendment.
The r-word is one of the most repulsive words in the English language; it humiliates people and is used colloquially without second thought. The word “retard” causes nothing but anguish. The r-word was first used in a medical discipline (e.g. “mental retardation”). The pejorative forms of the word “retard” and “retarded,” however, are used in society to deride people with intellectual disabilities. I find this social injustice unacceptable, especially because the r-word is often used to call people without intellectual disabilities “stupid.” When the r-word is used incorrectly, it reinforces the painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities as being less-valued members of society.
I decided to focus my plunge on adults with mental and physical disabilities, because I had no prior experience with this group. Coming from an able-bodied family where no one has significant handicaps, I was generally shielded from people with disabilities. Over the years, I grew to associate dangerous stigmas with these people, even though they have no control over their circumstance. The
Eli Clare in Freaks and Queers observes how individuals use certain words to reaffirm their identities and also distinguish themselves from the rest of society. Being a disabled transman, Clare mentions various words, like handicapped, cripple (crip), gimp, amongst others, which have come to be accepted by the disabled community. He says, “cripple makes me flinch…but I love crip humor, the audacity of turning cripple into a word of pride” (p. 83). Some of these words, like queer for the LGBT community, are used as a means of agency and community for minority groups. But he also turns to the ugly side of language, which can be used to decrease and erase the worth of an individual. He mentions his discomfort with the word ‘freak’ and how
Mental retardation was renamed Intellectual Disability in the DSM-5. This was to guide away from relying on IQ test scores for the diagnosis of mental retardation and to try and rely more on day to day tasks that one should be doing for their age and cultural lifestyle. There are four levels of mental retardation, mild, moderate, severe, and profound. (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). The least severe of them is the mild mental retardation. Children...
It was Eugen Bleuler who coined the word "autism" in schizophrenic patients who were self-absorbed. The beginning of analysis on Autism started as early as 1939 as an extension of Psychoanalysis, a method developed by Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis were mainly used in therapeutic treatment of psychological disorders and thus extended its way into autism which is also characterized by brain disorders. Leo Kanner, a psychiatrist from John Hopkins University first established the term “Early Infantile Autism” which he described as a distinct neurological condi...
Disability: Any person who has a mental or physical deterioration that initially limits one or more major everyday life activities. Millions of people all over the world, are faced with discrimination, the con of being unprotected by the law, and are not able to participate in the human rights everyone is meant to have. For hundreds of years, humans with disabilities are constantly referred to as different, retarded, or weird. They have been stripped of their basic human rights; born free and are equal in dignity and rights, have the right to life, shall not be a victim of torture or cruelty, right to own property, free in opinion and expression, freedom of taking part in government, right in general education, and right of employment opportunities. Once the 20th century