Death Sentences

“This is Retarded!”

Over the past few months of living with new roommates, I have heard the word “retarded” more times than I think I’ve heard previously. I had always been raised to not say things that hurt others. No one in my family ever said it. Not my brothers, parents, cousins, or grandparents. I heard others say it but no one close to me. My friends throughout school had never used this word either so I had never used it. In my high school, i distinctly remember teachers beginning to put up signs saying “Retarded is not a synonym for stupid or slow” in their classrooms and that’s been I first began to notice how prevalent the word was. Retard is a shortened version of retardation which means someone is handicapped, whether mentally and/or physically. When saying such phrases as “This is retarded” you mean “This is stupid” which are not synonymous. Using retard as another word for stupid or slow is demeaning and insulting to anyone who is actually handicapped. Why is it demeaning and insulting? The word is being used to describe a situation in which is unpleasing or annoying. Imagine someone using your name in place of a descriptive word for that type of situation. Pretty hurtful, right? Essentially, that is what is happening when retarded is being said in that context. It’s not funny and is only hurtful to others who have to experience those realities for themselves. There are much better and more accurate words to use when describing how you feel about an unpleasant situation or person. In addition, it has also been argued that saying retarded is one form of ableism. The definition of ableism is “discrimination in favor of able-bodied people”. With this in mind, saying that something is “retarded” instead of “stupid” is implying that disabled people are stupid and abled bodied are not. However, this is untrue. I have experienced the smartest people who are handicapped and some of the least intelligent people in abled individuals. Using “retarded” in such contexts reinforce a discriminating and untrue stereotype which is not okay. You can hurt someone just as much with words as you can with your fists. If you wouldn’t be physically aggressive with someone who is disabled, then you shouldn’t be that way with your words either. Even though I had never used this word previously, I vow to not use “retarded” and hope you will do the same.