It’s Not Just a Word

The sun was out. The sky was a clear blue. Campus clubs were set up in front of UNR’s Joe Crowley Student Union, while engaging with students. Upbeat music echoed through the campus. A group of four sophomores walked by conversing, the brisk air flowed, carrying bits and pieces of conversation.

“Did you see that guy in that video? He looked like a retard,” one of the teenagers said, laughing carelessly.

The word ‘retard’ is often said on UNR’s campus. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities, family members or individuals closely related to someone who has special needs find this term offensive. In March 2016, the Special Olympics celebrated their eighth annual, “Spread the Word to End the Word” movement.

This campaign aims to bring awareness to their message that the r-word is hurtful, and encourages people to help put an end to the r-word. A Special Olympics Virginia athlete, Joseph Franklin Stephens, displays his message on http://www.r-word.org/.

“We are something outside the “in” group. We are someone that is not your kind. I want you to know that it hurts to be left out here, alone,” says Stephens

Some students and faculty members at the University of Nevada, Reno have joined this movement. And abstain from using the r-word.

Rocky Sacks, a junior who majors in special education, had a couple things to say about the subject.

“This word is inappropriate because it puts down a specific group of people. Anytime that a specific group is affected, it is unacceptable,” he says.

He regularly discourages those who use this word, and tries to find ways to expand this message.

“A simple explanation of how it can affect others will encourage that person to not use it. All a person can do is try to make everybody aware of the issue. The knowledge will spread as more and more people understand the negativity the word can cause,” says Sacks.

Today, this word is not used for its literal meaning, which is: to make slow; delay the development or progress of, based off of www.dictionary.com . Instead, it’s used as another way to call someone stupid, dumb, or an idiot, according to Larry Dailey.

Larry Dailey is a journalism professor at the University of Nevada, and a loving father to his daughter who has autism. A parent of someone who has special needs is also deeply affected by this hurtful word.

Dailey says, “If people have empathy, they’ll understand not to use this word. It’s placing a horrible and false label. It’s a descriptor.”

Individuals who have mental disabilities cannot help the challenges they have. Rather than help the situation they are in, society adds a whole new one by comfortably using this word, according to Taylor Brunett.

Brunett is a sophomore at UNR who has a close family friend with Down syndrome. She says it is offensive and rude to use such a derogatory term to describe someone.

“I believe people still use the r-word because they are unaware of how the word impacts people. The people saying it may be using it in a jokingly way, but it’s not taken that way to people who have special needs,” she says.

Videos on YouTube tend to appear more and more each year to provide audience members a glimpse on the effect of the r-word, and how it is not acceptable. Also, more articles are being written to encourage society to avoid using this word.

In April 2015, a video was published on YouTube by Mic who gets to know Paul, a young man with Down syndrome. The interviewer, Liz Plank, asks his mother about the r-word, who gives an insightful opinion that can speak to all.

Dailey puts an end to this derogatory term by addressing family and friends who use it.

“It depends on how much I know the person, but if I’m close to them, I’ll let them know that the word is hurtful,” Dailey says.

With all these forms of media, the negative impact this word has on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their family members, or any close friends involved will continue to spread across the world.

“People need to be educated on empathy, on walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. Culture change comes slowly. Articles need to be written about this and stories need to be written about this. It’s an education process,” Dailey says.