January 28, 2010
Intellectual Disability in Legislation
House Joint Memorial 4024:
Requests that the United States Congress pass a bill that requires the replacement of the terms "mental retardation" and "mentally retarded" in the federal health, education, and labor policy statutes; the terms would be replaced with "intellectual disability" and "individuals with an intellectual disability," respectively.
Another example of the "
euphemism treadmill".
"Retarded" was introduced about 100 years ago to replace the tarnished but once correct scientific terms such as "idiot", "moron", "cretin" and "imbecile". Those are now only used derisively on, say, playgrounds and by opinionated bloggers. As someday "individuals with an intellectual disability" will inevitably be used. As in "Any legislator who believes this Memorial will accomplish anything would have to be ..."
Speaking of which, see also SB 6249, which seeks to destigmatize children who are "from poverty, "disadvantaged" and "at risk" by relabeling them "children at hope".
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at January 28, 2010
11:20 AM | Email This
1. The "children at hope" phrase is the most silly thing here. It doesn't mean anything, really. Silly legislators.
2. Actually, "cretin" is still a valid medical term, specifically referring to a patient with mental retardation caused by hypothyroidism in the fetus or young infant. Cretinism is a real disease and "cretin" is a real specific term, unlike, for instance, "idiot," "moron" or "imbecile." The latter three terms can generally be applied without fear of error to most politicians, however.
3. Can we still use the term Liberal when referring to a mental midget? Oops. Sorry people of lessened height.
How about democrat when talking of the logic resistant or history deniers?
4. #2: Your last sentence---:-)
5. I see much "intellectual disability" in evidence here. When will Congress address its own problems in this area?
6. Let's call a spade a spade! The members of Congress are all morons and idiots and that goes double for the Washington legislature.
7. Good to know that with the deficits, budget issues, etc. these folks have time to sit around renaming things.
8. Couldn't the word "politician" then be correctly and more suitably relabeled as an "intellectually disabled child at play with our money"? Afterall, the antiquated term "politician" has been stigmatized for far too long now.
9. Shouldn't that be "differently intellectually abled"?
10. Orwell would be proud.
11. And just how much does it cost to file a bill? We are broke, yet these morons, cretins, and or idiots waste millions of dollars putting inane bills in the hopper. What a bunch of retards!
12. What's with all the need for politicians to label people in the first place? For the most part isn't that a liberal tendency so that they have an other block for whom they can build programs and services around?
13. If the liberals follow form, at some space in time "intellectual disability" and "individuals with an intellectual disability" will be considered just as derisive as "moron', "imbecile" are now and, I guess, "mentally retarded" is too. Then what? Instead of a nice, neat one or two word description we'll have to use paragraphs to define a condition? Like "bipedal humanoids that are mentally less than optimal based on the average".
These people have just WAY to much time on their hands. A buddy of mine calls them the "compassion gestapo" and that's about right.
14. Apparently earlier this week democrat Whitehouse ballerina/thug Rahm Emanuel was listening in on a democrat strategy meeting and was reported to have responded thusly to whatever the fellow dem said: "That's retarded!!"
15.
Ok...let's follow the train of logic.
Normally, people don't call "retards" (truly mentally other-abled people) "retards". They call them "challenged" or "special".
The people they call "retards" are non-special people who are just acting stupid.
So, they're not really calling them "retards" (special) they're calling them "stupid".
So, in fact, those who would have issue with calling someone acting stupid a "retard" is actually thinking that a "retard" (special) is "stupid" -- which is a bad thing.
16. Red,
Close, you moron: it's "differently intellected"!
:-)
17. How about children of "hope and change," as the successor to Gen Y and Gen X? This can be used to describe the next generation that will be saddled with the debt being incurred by the current administations experiment with socialism.
18. "Kids at hope" is defined in so many different ways in SB 6249 that the term is totally meaningless.
19. Stefan posts and there are 18 comments and hardly a duplicate. Wonder if there is a story here.
20. I am legal guardian to a "mentally retarded" brother who has far more common sense than all the leftist Dimocrats in our legislature combined.
21. @20: Ditto from me, the mother of a "mentally retarded" son. And by the way, if the dilly liberals feel the need to change the description of those like my son, I would prefer the word "blessing child" as that is what he really is.
23. The reason the bill came up in the first place is that those with mental retardation have asked to not be referred to in that way - in spoken language, print, or policy. Would you refer to a black person as a "Negro", even though that is "technically correct?" How about a nod toward the dignity and respect towards people who otherwise were not given a choice? I haven't seen a single post I would refer to as in the least tolerant. Grow up.
24. I agree with "A Dad" - the term mental retardation has become an insult. I hear the words "retard", and "mentally retarded" used to disparage others across all age groups. Name-calling in all forms is wrong - it serves to separate us from each other, which is part of the problem with our political process today. Language is of critical importance, and if a group that is devalued wants to affirm a new, more dignified, more accurate name to describe their disability, more power to us all!
25. If y'all want to really do something constructive for our "mentally retarded" (the medical term} "developmentally disabled", or otherwise described population, the best thing you can do is get off your arses and participate in some of the programs out there trying to get them employed in our community by hiring them, so that this "devalued" group can "affirm a new, more dignified" lifestyle contributing to our economy, of which they are perfectly capable with coaching. Any degree of self-sufficiency changes their lives in uncountable ways. OUR attitudes have to change towards them, and changing their public descriptors doesn't do much towards that goal.
26. Good point katomar!