This word was not always used to be an insult
or hurt someone’s feelings; this word was used to describe a person that had
mental disorders. When people use this word to hurt another person they do not
realize that they making fun of someone that has a disorder. In our world many
more people have health issues like this, not many people realize the extent of
how many people suffer from mental retardation. My mom’s uncle’s son is mental
retarded. His name is Chad and he is around 35 years old. This man is one of
the nicest, funniest and kindest people I have ever met. He is caring and
loving towards everyone. He enjoys activities that people like you are I do
like riding his bike or hanging out with friends. Recently Chad has been living
in a house with other people that have the same condition as him and he loves
it. He still can live with his parents because they love him but he likes to go
out and change his lifestyle a bit. When I hear someone calling another person “retarded”
I think about Chad and I become disgusted with the fact that people think it is
funny and ok to joke about a disorder as serious mental retardation. When people use this word in a derogatory
sense it makes me think “do they really understand what they are calling that
person” “why are they making fun of a person that had no control over their
situation”. It makes me upset because Chad along with other people with mental
retardation are the nicest people you will meet, they are never mean and
negative they just want to have a good time and have fun. Using this word in a negative
sense towards someone is wrong and bad.
The story “why we
need to end the word” by Katie she is very dedicated to her cause to stop the
word. She does not want to erase the word from the dictionary she wants to
erase the meaning of the word that people “mix up” with the true meaning of the
word. This word was never thought of or expressed the way people nowadays use
it but that doesn't mean in the future things will change again and people will
do the same thing to a different word. We as the future generation of society need
to start clean and this is a way to start by getting rid of words that may be
in our vocabulary that are used like the “r word “is used in today’s society.
The story “the impact of the R- word” by Linda
is a story that I can relate to because of my mom’s uncle’s son. When this
woman is talking about the moment she heard some use that word like that it
broke my heart because it has to be very hard to be a mother of a child with those
disabilities and above all you have to listen to immature people saying stupid
stuff like that. This story talks about
Governor Beshear signing a paper that states the new term for people with
mental retardation is now known as “ intellectual disabilities” is something new
for me because I did not know about it and I am happy for this change. I am not
sure if it will change much but it is a good change for the future. This lady
is inspirational and is trying to send the right message.
The story called “my
son” broke my heart. It is so sad to hear about a young child being hurt like
this and still acting so happy and loving towards the other child. I cannot
comprehend how childish and immature people are acting nowadays and it disgusts
me to learn that even children are learning to use this word in a bad way. People
need to learn that words hurt and should not be messed around with. Everyone goes
around saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never affect
me” that person is hiding the truth because everyone knows words are very
painful and mean. I hope this poor child never has to go through that again.
They story “ People
like me” is inspirational, especially with the saying “We are God’s perfect
creation”. This little part phased me the most because it made me realize
that people do not realize that mental
disorders are important but it does not make that person less human and does
not give anyone the right to harm them. I hope people realized that people with
disorders are people too just like you and me they just have more health
problems. Be considerate of others feelings.
The story “ A
sister’s view” by Vicki is the sister’s personal fe
elings on the use of the R – word. She says it does not affect her if someone calls her brother “mentally retarded” or “intellectual disorder”. She shows us a different side to the argument. In most of the stories we heard about how they are against it and this woman says as long as they are not using it offensively then what is the difference. I respect her opinions and agree that if they do not use it in a bad way or degrading way, then why not use the word.
Catholics schools
have a reputation for having high morals and high expectations for their students;
this is understandable because you can expect the person to high morals like that.
If catholic schools began banded words like “retarded” or “gay” if students use
this in the sense of insults or hurting someone’s feeling. If they band the
word all together then people could bring up the subject of freedom of
speech and how it is being taken away if
they band it all together. They should have a certain consequence for the person
when they use it in a derogatory manner. 