Spread the Word to End the Word March 31st

On March 31, join youth and actor John C. McGinley in a day of awareness for America to stop and think about their use of the R-word. Our language frames how we think about others. Help eliminate the use of the R-word in everyday speech. Stop yourself, your children, and others from using the word "Retard" and "I am so retarded". It's demeaning to my child and all others with an intellectual disability. thank you!

End the "R" Word

New rule: Let's make this word unacceptable By Maria King Carroll March 27, 2009 I have despised the word "retard" for more than 40 years, which is as long as I've had a brother with intellectual disabilities. So when I heard about the Special Olympics' Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, my first thought was: finally. I am tired of cringing when otherwise nice people thoughtlessly use the word, tired of feeling outraged when it is employed with the cruelty of hate speech. The R-word deserves extinction. Let's make it unacceptable. Retard connotes defective, stupid, an absence of good qualities. It's a reduction. It's as if someone took your most noticeable weakness and reduced your entire identity to a mean term that describes this weakness. At R-word.org, you can view stories and videos about some of the amazing people who've had this awful term applied to them. Targeting words for elimination isn't a small thing, but this one adds no knowledge or understanding of whom it describes. It does, however, tell us something about the user, and it isn't complimentary. The R-word hurts people with intellectual disabilities when it is spat at them or even used in a joking manner. Banishing this particular word is only one step in the process of humanizing the world for people with disabilities. Many people were offended by President Barack Obama's unfortunate remark about his bowling game being suitable for the Special Olympics. That someone who is as smart, thoughtful and compassionate as the president could make a comment like this illustrates the work we need to do. Because for many, making fun of people with intellectual disabilities is something they don't think about; it's still OK. People with intellectual disabilities don't react with hostility when they are dissed. As actor John McGinley of "Scrubs," who has a son with Down syndrome, said, "When you pick on that group, you've picked the perfect storm of cowardice to exercise your vitriol, because they're not going to return serve." They're equipped to hug not hit, said McGinley. Proving McGinley's point, 38-year-old Special Olympian Tim Maloney, a bowler with a 165 average, offered bowling tips to the president after Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Many of us who are passionate about Spread the Word to End the Word come at this from personal experience. My brother Joseph was born in 1966. His disability wasn't obvious at birth. But he was the fourth child of my parents, and they noticed that he was hitting his developmental milestones—walking, talking—much later than his older siblings. My parents told us that Joe was slow, which was all they knew at the time. In the mid-1960s, the knowledge about and resources for those who were intellectually challenged were scarce. As time went on, we learned how slow; today my brother lives in a supervised group home where he needs help with personal hygiene and can't drive a car. He also has a job, is a passionate fan of the Dallas Cowboys, comes home most weekends, and has one of the most finely calibrated moral compasses I've ever seen. Growing up, we lived in a close-knit neighborhood. My parents were friendly with all the other parents in the neighborhood. Perhaps because of this closeness, I don't remember Joe being teased or called names by the neighborhood children. When you know a person with intellectual disabilities, you are less likely to call them, or others like them, names. And this is the ultimate goal of the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign, which launches on March 31: people at all levels of intellectual functioning becoming friends, or at least part of each other's worlds. This impulse is one of the forces behind mainstreaming in education (it's good not only for the intellectually challenged kids), the Special Olympics, which needs lots of volunteers, and L'Arche, a Catholic movement of residential care. Our world is much richer when all of us get to contribute our gifts. But it's hard to see people's value when names like retard are acceptable. Let's end the word today. Maria King Carroll lives in West Peoria, Ill.

President Obama, you have broken my heart

I was a supporter of Presidential candidate Obama for the reason he campaigned that he would fully fund IDEA so that our children can receive all the supports and services needed in order to be fully included in public schools. He lost that support last night when he appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. “President Obama attempted a “joke” about his bowling abilities, and told Leno that his bowling score, with practice, had risen to 129. “That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno deadpanned. It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president replied. During the campaign season, then-candidate Obama described his bowling skills as “terrible” after scoring 37 when he hit the lanes on the campaign trail in Altoona, Pennsylvania. A perfect score is 300. “ Sure, a White House spokesman said the remark was not intended to disparage Special Olympics athletes, who have intellectual disabilities. “The president “thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world,” said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton.” I understand Timothy Shriver has accepted the President’s apology, but for me his remark cannot be “apologized away”. It came from President Obama’s beliefs; that those with intellectual disabilities are “beneath” others in society. It's almost as bad as him using the R-word. You can’t just make an off-hand comment like that if you truly believe in the abilities of those with disabilities. I know I would never make a comment like that, as I know better. Maybe he meant it only in the context of their athletic ability? Perhaps, but it is still deep rooted belief of his that cannot be explained or apologized away, and no amount of “face” he will no doubt now have at Special Olympics events will change this belief. A belief that will continue to spread through the country, and the world, now that our President espouses it. I voted for Mr. Obama because he promised change, and provided the promise of Hope to our country. I thought he “got it”. Instead Mr. President, you have broken my heart. But worse, you have broken my son’s Hope.

So you want to be an Advocate and don't know how? Let's bury the "R" word, together

We know all our kids hear it. We know we all hear it sometimes from educated colleagues, even teachers. They all say "I don't mean (insert child's name with cognitive disability here"). Well, yes, you are referring to my son, her daughter or your cousin that has Down syndrome or an intellectual disability. Let's just put an end to it all together shall we? Let's all advocate against the "R" word; your family, co-workers, and especially your children that use the word. MAYBE YOU'RE AN ADVOCATE, AND YOU JUST DON'T KNOW IT YET Soeren Polumbo is a vocal advocate for people with disabilities - and for his own sister Olivia. Olivia has an intellectual disability, but is more characterized, according to Polumbo, by an ability to give unconditional love to the people around her. "She has never hated anyone, or hurt anyone's feelings, but has never been accepted," he said, in front of the Boise audience. Polumbo has spoken before the Illinois Legislature and his speeches have made the rounds on YouTube. What's remarkable, is that his work started small - one speech at his high school, with a message that happened to be strong enough, and creative enough, to spread. Speakers at the Monday rally urged students to take an active role in the Special Olympics movement - by speaking out like Polumbo, by creating public service announcements or coming up with other grassroots ways to end discrimination. -------------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it before, here is Polumbo's speech: