Getting Past ‘Retarded’

Medical and social service groups have generally retired the phrase mental retardation. Today, they use terms like mental disability, cognitive disability or developmental delay. But retarded still has life in the English language as an insult. And therein hangs a tale.

Last August, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel scolded a group of liberal Democrats for being “f---ing retarded” because he disagreed with their strategy. Nobody could have been especially surprised. Emanuel is famous for using lip-stripping language.

But word of his insult appeared in the media recently, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin jumped on it. Palin’s son has Down Syndrome. So on behalf of all mentally disabled people, this prominent Republican took offense at the prominent Democrat’s remarks and demanded that he lose his job. “Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities—and the people who love them—is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking,” she wrote on Facebook.

Emanuel apologized to Special Olympics head Tim Shriver, presumably because the Special Olympics has launched a campaign to end use of the “R-word.” [2] That might have been the end of the story. But then Rush Limbaugh rushed to Emanuel’s defense – in his own windbaggy way. “Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult’s taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards,” Limbaugh said. “I mean these people, these liberal activists, are kooks.”

Back to you, Gov. Palin. Surely if Emanuel—speaking in a closed-door meeting—deserves to be fired, then Limbaugh—speaking to millions of listeners—deserves at least as much, right? Well, apparently “all God’s children” don’t get nearly as wound up about conservative insults as they do liberal ones. Limbaugh’s job is safe as far as Palin is concerned.

Palin’s hypocrisy is a small problem that masks a bigger one in this news story. The bigger story is that incidents in which some group has been insulted now follow a dismally predictable pattern. Some blatant insult or prejudice rightfully gets everyone’s attention. But then the discussion devolves into whining about political correctness or a media-fueled game of gotcha.

Needless to say, following in these well-worn ruts will not remove the word retard—or any other insult—from America’s vocabulary. In fact, this behavior guarantees that the word will appear promiscuously on South Park or the next Comedy Central stand-up show. And kids from Maine to California will laugh and learn.

However, the right kind of classroom teaching [3] can and does make a huge difference. And the best way to end any prejudiced behavior is to show students the people behind the insults [4]. Who in your class knows someone with Down Syndrome or autism? How do they feel about the word retard? Why do they feel that way?

Kids may seem to shrug off this kind of discussion. But even if they do, some seeds of tolerance will have been planted. Perhaps the next time they hear a friend throw out “retard!” they won’t laugh as hard, or they’ll be bothered that they laughed. That’s not quite the vision of a tolerant country that most of us work for each day. But it’s not the worst place to start.