The Importance Of The R Word Pledge

By Douglas Howard


The only campaign that was launched for encouraging people to pledge in stopping the utilization of the word retard. The campaign advocates have said that making use of this term in everyday or in colloquial speech is so much hurtful and will dehumanize the intellectually disabled individuals. Advocates are advocating on the use respectful languages for the sake of the dignity of a person.

The advocates also believe that individuals having cognitive disabilities or some other types of development disabilities have the capability of enjoying their life experiences. And having some casual references on the term can surely make the person feel like he or she is less than human. And this can be one of the reasons on why the R word pledge would be very important.

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 the words do matter if these are being used anytime and anywhere. Scoffing towards the others about a particular topic is really not necessary just for a point to be made. Each of the person has an own gift and one important thing here is recognizing these gifts. It literally means that through this, being better is what them world can surely achieved.

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 this belief that the most hurtful thing could be language rather than actions. Most especially if you are already aware about the impact of your oral transgression. Thus, saying that there is no mistake that words do hurt. So if you have been peppering the words either retard or retarded, it means you are also spreading hurt.

Hate speech is a common expression that is termed for this since it is not only hurting those having some developmental disabilities like intellectually but as well as those who are caring for them and supporting them. This can both alienate and exclude them. Some are still believing and continuously applying the traditional rule of hiding away and segregating these people from a society.

Since this has become the casual description for any negativity or flaws, the retarded word may no longer be appropriate for persons having intellectual disabilities. So any use of this term even as slang or may not be intended as being offensive, is still hurtful. It is because it can still be associated with 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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