“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.”
by Laura Weisskopf Bleill
Words hurt, folks. But when the people being hurt are largely marginalized by society, the language perseveres largely without any check.
Spread the Word to End the Word is an ongoing effort by Special Olympics, Best Buddies International and supporters to raise the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encourage people to pledge to stop using the R-word.
The Spread the Word awareness day is being observed locally by multiple rallies at area schools including Centennial High School, Urbana High School, Heritage, Unity Middle School, Unity High School, University High School, Mahomet-Seymour Jr. High, several locations on the University of Illinois campus, and Parkland Community College. Volunteers will be passing out stickers and buttons as they assist students in taking the pledge to stop the derogatory use of the words retard and retarded.
How can you get involved? Take the r-word pledge and invite your friends and family to do the same. If you’re on campus Wednesday, stop by the Illini Union between 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. to show your support.
Please join us in making the r-word pledge, and be sure to leave a comment and let us know that you did!
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I haven’t used the r-word for several decades, because my sister is developmentally disabled. I do not hesitate to stop people when they use that word to describe a person or a situation, and I was horrified when my children were in schools (in Champaign) where that was a very common pejorative. So I applaud this campaign and I hope it works!
Hi. Thanks for spreading the word about this. I posted about this day, too, inspired by a tweet from a teen who used the word “retard” (that was a mind-boggling exchange, let me just say).
yes! People just don’t understand how this word hurts. Thank you so much for sharing this site with me, I didn’t know that there was a day to try to end it.