STOP CALLING THINGS "RETARDED"

If you sift through the Internet’s various comment sections and random posts you will find a huge variety of text containing offensive and vulgar language. The mask of anonymity the web provides allows homophobic slurs, racial epithets and various other cruel terms to fly freely with no repercussion. One of these terms is the word “retarded”. Even if you aren’t an avid Internet user I can guarantee you’ve heard someone call something “retarded, or call another person a “retard”. This word has existed in the English language for over 300 years and has an extensive history culturally and scientifically. You might think I’m about to impose on you the oppressive force of political correctness, but when Donald Trump is mocking a mentally handicapped reporter, a prominent Italian band names themselves “Retarded” and the Internet is packed with ableist language, it is time we change. The truth is, in our day and age using the word “retarded” as an insult is just as bad as spewing racial and gay slurs. It is not only offensive, but reinforces ableism that has been prevalent in our society for literally thousands of years.

Roman and Greek philosophers helped kick this discrimination off by labeling the intellectually disabled as barely human. During an age where intellect was so highly coveted anyone who couldn’t fit to that society’s standards were punished. Believed to have an imbalance of the four humors, those who were mentally handicapped could be sentenced to death or physically beat until they were “properly punished” for their wrongdoing. In the 17th Century, Thomas Willis, an English doctor described mental illness as a disease. This included the intellectually disabled and lead to an even greater phobia of the handicapped population. The popular belief became that mental retardation could be caught like any other disease. Asylums replaced churches as the care-taking facilities for the intellectually disabled at the start of the 18th century. These asylums were intended to “fix” the problems the mentally disabled were believed to have, but did so with great inaccuracy and harm to the patients. They used methods such as beatings, shock-therapy, and forced isolation in attempt to “repair” their subject’s minds. Not a single one of their strategies worked. Not to mention, when a patient acted inappropriately or insubordinate in or out of an asylum, they were often sent to jail. This trend lead to a consensus that the intellectually disabled were morally degenerate during the beginning of the 1900’s.

The 1900’s also brought the eugenics movement, which worked to eliminate any group of people deemed unhealthy to the overall population. The targets of this genocidal ideology included all non-white minorities, gays, lesbians, the mentally handicapped and many others. Adolf Hitler used the same set of ideals to justify his holocaust of millions of Jews. By regulating marriage and sexual activity, eugenics spread as a popular idea through most developed countries. However, by the 1950’s the movement was almost unanimously agreed to be evil and immoral, and quickly faded from society and became hidden from history. But, discrimination against the mentally handicapped endured. Large slews of demeaning terms grew and became common vocabulary. Some of these words such as idiot and moron have become so ingrained in our culture that they aren’t event related to intellectual disability anymore. Others such as cretin and amentia have faded almost completely from our society’s vocabulary. But, the term “retarded” has remained and is just as derogatory as it was in the seventies when its usage skyrocketed. Despite a movement towards normalization occurring during that time, ableism prevailed even when the abusive asylums were shut down and real research on mental illness began.

As you can see, the harsh historical treatment of the intellectually disabled is reason enough to cease using the word “retarded”. However, the word is also no longer accepted in scientific research fields either. Many alternatives are now used instead such as intellectually disabled, mentally handicapped or developmentally delayed. Of course, the argument could be made that this all-political correctness creating new euphemisms to prevent anyone from getting offended. But is it really that hard to give up one word in your vocabulary and make millions of people feel more comfortable? I don’t think so. These issues effect a huge portion of the population with 2-3% of the world suffering from a form of intellectual disability. There’s a difference between censoring language and being courteous. Just like with race issues and gay rights, we must recognize the immense amount of systematic damage and discrimination the intellectually disabled have suffered. We must push to show some respect and end the use of these derogatory terms. We can help organizations like the Special Olympics transform the word “retarded” into the “r-word”.

In an age where we are moving forward with rights for many marginalized groups, why should we leave the intellectually disabled out of that movement? Their rights and their lives have been pushed to the side for centuries, they have been ignored and hated for far too long. It’s time we evolve as a society and give just as much attention to the disabled as we do everyone else, and a great way to do that is by ceasing to insult them. “Retarded” is an offensive, cruel and outdated word and it is time we replace it, along with our society’s ableist tendencies.

#mentalhealth