By Ian Briggs
Staff Columnist
In 2004, the End the Word campaign was launched. The movement, backed by organizations like the Special Olympics, has gained widespread support with its video campaign.
Last year I had the chance to watch one of these videos in a Best Buddies meeting. When the presentation started, we were shown a succession of images such as a black man saying “It’s not okay to call me nigger,” a Spanish woman “It’s not okay to call me spick,” a gay teen “It’s not okay to call me a fag,” and a Jewish man “it’s not ok to call me a kike.” Finally, Jane Lynch from “Glee” and a woman with Down’s Syndrome came on saying that the word retarded was no different from any other slur and should never be used.
The whole thing was emotionally intense to say the least, but unlike most people around me, I felt there was something misguided about it all. For credibility’s sake, I have worked as a counselor at a Special Session camp for the last four summers. I have made friends with people who have Down’s syndrome, Autism, and other disabilities, which until recently have been categorized under mental retardation.
The problem that I have with this video and movement saying retarded is no different from any other slur, is the fact that they are different. The word retarded was originally coined by doctors in the 1950s, to replace words like moron, which had become misused and hateful. Retarded is taken from Latin, meaning “to slow.”
The word retarded in itself is not intrinsically negative. In contrast, nigger, spick, fag, or kike were all created with the sole purpose of being derogatory and to dehumanize the individual and group to which they were directed. The word retarded was not, and is not the same as a slur, though many would argue it has become one.
The people of End the Word see their campaign as a landmark for human dignity, when in fact, it is a time-tested and failed strategy to fix a problem that goes beyond one word. Take cretin; today it is an out-of-date insult for being dumb, but it comes from the old-French word meaning Christian. However, over time, the word became perverted into an insult.
In the early 20th century, psychologists coined the terms moron, imbecile, and idiot to replace words grouping the mentally retarded with the mentally insane. They were meant to be scientific and to separate the stigma of madness from retardation.
In a few decades, all three became derogatory. So we return to mentally retarded, adopted in the ‘50s and now considered cruel. Retarded’s replacement last year was intellectually disabled. This year it’s developmentally delayed.
So why does this keep happening? Why do we ban a word to find its replacement become just as offensive? Because the word is not the problem: we are. Society has an unhealthy belief that banning a thing will stop the reason for its use. Our ignorance is at the root of the problem, not a word. The fact that retarded has gone from being respectful to hateful, is proof not of its inadequacy, but an underlying bigotry.
When we change a formerly decent word into a derogatory one, it shows that hatred has prevailed in our language, not that it has been overcome. Banning the word retarded is not a sign of victory; it is one of defeat. We need to stop warping words for hateful purposes, or the newest replacement for the word retarded suffer the exact same fate. This time let’s not end the word, let’s end the hate.