A Population to be Talked With, Not About
Soeren Palumbo is a young man who has made a huge impact on the world. His vision and passion for better communities have tremendously improved the lives of countless individuals. When he asked me to write this series in February, I was honored to have the chance to not only speak with some important names in the Special Olympics community but to learn more about Spread the Word to End the Word’s (STW) history. This is his story.
First, I wanted to know why Soeren felt the need to get involved with this type of work. There is usually a strong passion behind it, and that is proven in him. He has a sister, Olivia, who happens to have an intellectual disability (ID). He grew up with a story similar to mine. He wished for a better world for her. A world without bullying; a world without the derogatory use of the r-word. In 2007, he gave a speech at his high school advocating for this. From then on, he wanted to launch his ideas into something greater. A movement.
STW started as an idea to change language. Advocacy surrounding language has been around for quite some time, but a new approach was in order. Banning the r-word wasn't enough. To understand this, we must reflect on the origin of the world. It’s an old term that was used for intellectual disabilities. 50 years ago, people with ID were institutionalized and there simply wasn’t enough exposure to the real world. This doesn’t make anyone wrong or bad, but times are different now. The word started with more innocent connotations compared to present day. It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just the way things were.
Soeren joined the Special Olympics (SO) team in 2008 as a student intern. He entered onto a team campaigning to ban the r-word. But as stated, it turned out banning it wasn’t enough. Banning something gains its power from scolding and censorship. It’s intense. It’s a method to change “you.” We had to find a way to change the language, not the person. Is there a way to get people to recognize how their words affect other people? STW was the vehicle to educate.
By 2009, Soeren and Timbo Shriver (son of Special Olympics Chairman, Tim Shriver) had developed these thoughts into a plan. The two had worked next to each other in the SO office for years and had that time to brainstorm the idea of STW. They wanted to have a single day of awareness, action, and education around the R word. There was no need to ask people for money or a huge commitment, they would simply be asked to pledge. A pledge to watch what they say and be mindful of their language.
“I pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.”
In early 2009, Soeren and Timbo had an opportunity to launch this movement like never before. They were at an event and were invited onstage to speak. They had a short time block to speak onstage to fellow leaders in the industry. As they were backstage, they decided this as their moment. They would never have another chance like this. There was something missing, though. The date. Soeren and Timbo agreed on a date in March and stepped on stage. The crowd received them well, and the Spread the Word movement was officially launched.
Young people were the target audience, but why? At the time of this launch, Soeren says he was young and it was simply easier to introduce the idea to peers. It was pragmatic. He knew the audience they would resonate most with. Additionally, the STW movement was visualized in schools when it began. When you present something within a school, there are far more connections than the groups you initially talk with. You can start by connecting with a small group, but they connect with their peers and exposure grows to larger numbers. This gave the campaign the widest connection. Soeren states that once you get into a community setting, people are much more dispersed throughout the community, and you lose saturation. While the use of the r-word was not originally implemented by younger generations (they didn’t start it, they learned it), they have more flexible minds to learn and grow with new ideas.
Today, STW has spread worldwide, with over 770,000 pledges to end the use of the r-word. The combination of lifelong passion, strategic planning, and a bit of fresh spontaneity were the perfect storm to create a new and exciting movement for people of all generations to join. There are schools that take the pledge as a whole unit, and the energy from these places is simply amazing. The movement is not over, though. Ideally, the movement will one day become unnecessary. We are on a mission to create a more tolerant and mindful world. We have made significant progress, and we are proud. But now we look beyond words. There’s other factors that must be weaved into this movement. One of them, and arguably the biggest, is the concept of inclusion.
The word inclusion has a standard definition, but I believe it also has a subjective meaning to everyone it affects. As I worked through this series, I asked each participant what inclusion meant to them.
What does inclusion look like to Soeren?
Soeren says there’s more than one piece to inclusion. There are inclusive actions and behaviors. An example would be a student inviting someone different from them to sit together at the lunch table. Inclusive structures must exist such as clubs and teams that don’t discriminate based on intellectual abilities. There’s an inclusive mindset that one must have on a personal level. This is having a world view and attitude that people with ID are not an “other” to be feared, judged and talked about. Rather, they are a part of the same group all of us are in: human.
Our actions can work to support a stigma, or our actions can change. When we use the r-word, we cement old stigma.
We need to monitor the impact of our words. When we are able to connect them to people we care about, there’s impact. That’s what we are doing within STW. We want you to see that our siblings, friends, and colleagues are worth enough that you don’t want to cause them pain; you don’t want to use a word that would hurt them, no matter what the context may be. Frankly, the person you could be hurting will one day be your sibling, friend, or colleague. It’s about respect for all people, not just those we see fit. This is the Spread the Word movement.
For more information on the Spread the Word to End the Word movement, please check out their website.
