What comes to your mind when you hear the word retarded? Do you think of it describing someone with a mental disability or as a way to insult someone? I would argue a lot of people think of it as just a way to insult someone because of the way society has evolved that word into an insult. The definition of the word retarded is “less advanced mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one’s age.” Urban dictionary defines it as “A word used to describe someone who is profoundly stupid. A type of stupidity that is an insult to intelligence itself.”
The word retarded was created in the late 1800’s as a medical term to describe someone with a mental disability but when society got a hold of it they turned it into an insult without realizing the consequences it could have. While I was in elementary school every kid in my class used it including myself. Someone would trip and then we would say “Oh man you’re soooo retarded”. As kids we didn’t think twice about saying it or what it really meant. As I got older I started to understand more what the word actually meant because I spent a lot of time in the hospital. When I started realizing the origin of the word and what it was meant for I wanted to be more careful with the way I used it. I thought to myself “oh I’ll only say this around a select few people so I don’t accidentally insult someone who actually has a mental disability.” It seemed like a good solution to me but what I didn’t realize was breaking this habit of saying it would be hard. I eventually slipped and said it at the worst place possible. I volunteered at a special needs camp and said retarded to 2 fellow counselors. Thankfully no campers were around but it was at that time I realized I couldn’t just say it to select people and it be okay to use that word. Imagine the affect it could’ve had on one of the kids who had a mental disability if they heard me use that word in those terms.
Society has taken this word that was intended as a medical purpose and turned it into such a derogatory word. So much so that President Obama passed a law called Rosa’s Law to have the word taken off federal records and replaced with the words “intellectual disability”. Some people might think now that it’s no longer used in the medical world to describe it’s okay to use it as an insult but because of the origin of the word retarded I still believe it’s not okay. Given it’s such a recent change it could still be offensive to one with a mental disability. I don’t believe people use this word intending to be disrespectful to people with mental disabilities. I believe people use it due to lack of knowledge as to where the word came from and what it actually meant. But as adults lack of knowledge is not a good enough excuse. As adults we need to educate ourselves better because words really can hurt even if that’s not what we intended.
Bri's English Blog 