Friday 26 August 2016

Information On The R Word Pledge

By Lisa Brooks


The R word movement is ideally a national campaign in the United States that is usually aimed at encouraging all the citizens to avoid using offensive and dehumanizing terms such as retard. This term has a long history since it has been used for quite a while. The R word pledge thereby advocates for the believe that the usage of this term retarded in everyday or even colloquial speech is unacceptable, hurtful and very dehumanizing to the many individuals that have intellectual incapacities.

The movement mainly concentrates on advocating for the usage of language that accommodates and respects the integrity, dignity and value of intellectually impaired persons. Advocates strongly believe that people suffering from cognitive disabilities and any other developmental abnormalities are very much capable of enjoying their lives and experiences. Additionally, they maintain that that causal references to words retard and its various forms make intellectually disable individuals feel intimidated and less human.

Therefore, mocking them and using very offensive terms to refer to them, is very erroneous and should not be acceptable in the current day and era. They should thus be respected for what and how they are, since mocking or ridiculing makes they feel less appreciated or unwanted in society. This lowers their self-esteem and makes them detest themselves.

The history of this advocacy mission dates back in 2009, during the World games at the Special Olympics Globe Youths Summit, in 2009. Since then, the movement has been holding annual celebrations on the very first Wednesday of March, each year.

This campaign is exponentially important, and has made great impacts since it was incepted in 2009. Respectful language that is inclusive of all persons is very essential to this movement, especially for dignity as well as humanity of persons having intellectual disabilities. Nevertheless, some people in the society do not fully recognize the demeaning, dehumanizing, and hurtful effects the word retard poses to intellectually disable people. It is now time to give some credence and attention to the minority, and revamp the consciousness of societal members to the hurting effects of using retard.

The movement strives to let people know that referring to someone as a retard is not funny at all, and is not a joke. It is conversely, very harmful and offensive to many a people. It should therefore, never be used especially for derogatory reasons.

There is also some controversy surrounding the alternative terms that should be used in place of retard. Many experts believe that using intellectual disability is an ideal replacement for mental retardation. This is because many believe that retardation evokes the term retard, and thus brings up very demeaning and painful memories of ridicule and also rejection.

In conclusion, the most important thing to always remember is that all of us are one people, and therefore every person should and must always come before their state or particular condition, however complicated it could be.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment