John is the spokesman for the National Down Syndrome Society and is actively involved in the organization's Buddy Walk. You can find more videos like this at the YouTube channel for EndtheRword.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Spread the Word to End the Word
absolutely love the show Scrubs, so you can't imagine how thrilled I was to find this PSA of John C. McGinley (or Dr. Cox):
John is the spokesman for the National Down Syndrome Society and is actively involved in the organization's Buddy Walk. You can find more videos like this at the YouTube channel for EndtheRword.
John is the spokesman for the National Down Syndrome Society and is actively involved in the organization's Buddy Walk. You can find more videos like this at the YouTube channel for EndtheRword.
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I loved watching this. My toddler son has Down Syndrome and the thought of him hearing the R word spoken either as a "joke" or in a deliberately hurtful manner breaks my heart. However, part of the difficulty with getting rid of this word is the fact that it is still "clinically acceptable" in some professions. In the DSM - IV, the diagnostic handbook that mental health professionals use, Mentally Retarded is the descriptor used on axis II for people with developmental disabilities of the cognitive domain. What I worry about is that any word that we use will eventually become the word "not" to use. For example, a "friend" of my husband told him that he looks like a "special needs kid" with his new winter hat. And this person knows we have a child with Down Syndrome!
ReplyDeleteNot only should we stop using the R word, we should, as a society and culture, stop using ANY word that describes intellectual disability in a manner that is hurtful or connotes superiority in the speaker. Language is powerful indeed, but what will be more important to changing the value that we place on individuals who have developmental disabilities will be cultural shift that will no longer place the most value on the person with the highest IQ. And so I ask parents of typically-developing children to refrain from making "how smart they are" the most valued attribute. Only when we value kindness and courage as much as intellectual performance will we no longer find it acceptable as a society to call an individual a retard.
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