Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ending the use of the "R" word

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to the students at our hometown Evanston Township High School. They've created a petition to encourage students to stop using "retarded" or "retard" as an insult towards others. So far, the petition has collected 3,000 signatures! Read about it here.

The use of "retarded" as an insult is a pet peeve of mine, and I know it's the same for many others as well. Mental retardation is a very real and very serious disability, and it shouldn't be mocked by using the term as an insult. It's just as disappointing to me as if somebody called another person "handicapped" if they didn't do something right physically. I hope the actions by those at ETHS can lead to similar things at high schools across the nation.

No comments: