Sadly, it is not uncommon in a high school or around a group of children to hear the "R" word used. These youth generally have no idea how hurtful these casual remarks can be to people with Down syndrome or other intellectual disabilities. When the film, Tropic Thunder came out, the use of "Retard" in this film created a little awareness and prompted Will Schermerhorn to produce the beautiful film featured to the right on the blog. In the library we also have a couple other resources on this topic. One is Offense Taken, a documentary done in the US in response to the use of retard in a title of a theatre performance. It forces people to examine exactly what the use of that term means.
And of course if you haven't read Dave Hingsburger's booklet,
The Are Word, it is certainly worth your time. It is about empowering people with intellectual disabilities to understand bullying and teasing and how to deal with it.
Another interesting site on this topic are the various videos of a speech made by a high school student on this topic. He relates its use to racist language and as he is the brother of a girl with intellectual disabilities, it is very moving.
As always, if you would like to borrow either of these items or anything else, please email the library.
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