Obama Signs Bill Replacing ‘Mental Retardation’ With ‘Intellectual Disability’ - story with pics

[Kadie]

Obama Signs Bill Replacing ‘Mental Retardation’ With ‘Intellectual Disability’
By MICHELLE DIAMENT
October 5, 2010

President Barack Obama signed legislation Tuesday requiring the federal government to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in many areas of government.

The measure known as Rosa’s Law was approved unanimously by Congress before receiving the go-ahead from the president with little fanfare this week.

Under the law, “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” will be stripped from federal health, education and labor policy. “Intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability” will be inserted in their place. The rights of individuals with disabilities will remain the same.

“This is a really important step, particularly for the self-advocacy community,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc, which lobbied heavily for Rosa’s Law. “Self-advocates have been working for many years to remove hurtful language and this takes our community one step closer.”

more...
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/10/05/obama-signs-rosas-law/10547/


US President Barack Obama hugs Rosa Marcellino, 9, after signing the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, October 8, 2010. Obama signed Rosa's Law, named after Marcellino, earlier in the week which will remove the terms 'mental retardation' and 'mentally retarded' from federal laws.


President Barack Obama hugs nine-year-old Rosa Marcellino, from Edgewater, Md. , after he signed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010, Friday, Oct. 8, 2010, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Rosa's Law is named after Marcellino who has Down syndrome.

[joeybee12]

1. This is a good idea...but I can't help thinking how LONG replacing everything

is gonna take!

[lumberjack_jeff]

32. Laws and regulations are updated as they would otherwise be revised.

It's a good thing.

[SidDithers]

2. K&R...nt

Sid

[Common Sense Party]

3. Couldn't do this until Rahm left the White House.

Rahm thought it took to long to scream "People with Intellectual Disabilities!!" at Progressives.


That said, I sincerely hope the ugly word "retard" goes the way of the n-word, where decent people wouldn't dream of saying it.

[DJ13]

5. +1

:rofl:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

7. WIN

:thumbsup:

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. I hate it when culture overwhelms proper language.

The word 'retard' existed long before it was applied to intellectual capacity - it simply means something that is inhibited in its progress. A brake retards the speed of a vehicle.

It is the use of it as a descriptor of a person that is offensive, not the word itself.

[snooper2]

14. Or, you need to retard the timing

I guess in those context though nobody would ever take offense...right? :eyes:

[Common Sense Party]

19. It was used as a verb, not a noun.

When it's used as a noun and thus a pejorative, my gloves come off.

And you know exactly what I meant.

[lumberjack_jeff]

54. The verb is not the same word as the noun.

But you knew that.

[blondeatlast]

12. +1 to all--and my father spent his life serving the intellectually disabled and stopped using

"retarded" way, way back in the early '70s.

[Common Sense Party]

20. I see people using "retarded" all the time here on DU

I used to use it, too. And I'm ashamed that I ever did.

Now that I have a son who is intellectually disabled, I'm much more sensitive to it.

I should have been more sensitive WAY before I ever had my son.

[dave29]

37. +100

it gets kicked around way to much. My little sister has Smith-Magenis Syndrome... and she rocks :)

[Bosso 63]

59. It was only AFTER I became involved with disability activists,

,I found out how painful the word is. I too should have known better

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. +1

[HipChick]

4. Waiting for Palin's FB post praising him..

[Common Sense Party]

6. Still waiting......

..............................................

[stuntcat]

23. tick tock

tick tock

[Cirque du So-What]

8. Another headline I'd like to see

Democratic Underground replaces the terms 'fucktard,' 'retard' and other associated 'tards with tombstones whenever they're tossed around casually in polite company. Can we finally relegate (something)tard to the ash bin of history?

[Confusious]

15. Really? You think the word is the problem

Not the way in which it used? The endless perpetual battle against words, not against the people who use them to hurt.

Well I guess that'll aways give you cover, at least until you run out of every word in the English language.

[Common Sense Party]

21. In case you were wondering, 'fucktard' WASN'T a word in the English language

until someone with limited imagination decided, Hey! Let's combine "fuck" with "retard" so I won't have to go to the trouble of actually typing out "fucking retard." It still means the same thing.

[Confusious]

28. Really? kinda like

Air - plane and Auto - mobile. Wow! That blows my mind dude! :sarcasm:

Really, anything that people decide is a word, is a word. There wouldn't be an english language without it.

[petronius]

17. I'm always surprised to see those go undeleted

On the other hand, I saw "mentally challenged" used here the other day, and it was clearly just a stand-in for 'retard.' So, I'm not sure what benefit there is to replacing words when the attitudes go unchanged...

[Cirque du So-What]

25. It's more the spirit in which the words are intended

than the actual words that are used. To my way of thinking, it's more acceptable when someone innocently or ignorantly refers to a person with Down syndrome as 'retarded' than when someone throws insults that use the preferred terms in a mocking manner.

[Confusious]

29. How long until intellectual disability is a bad word?

I'm taking bets. 5 to 1 on 5 years, 10 to 1 on ten. 1 to 1 on you have to mime what you want to say, so you don't unintentionally offend someone in the boonies of Siberia.

Op there, I just did it, making Siberia look like a backwater. I'm placist.

[Gaedel]

65. You know.......

Mental retardation which meant that the full development of the individual brain was "retarded" by some hereditary gene or chemical imbalance was a technical description of the problem. It accurately described the state of being. A one time, the degree of this retardation was delineated by categorizing the individual as moron, imbecile, or idiot describing the extent of the retardation.

Unfortunately, people have thrown these words around as insults and so these very useful descriptions have been banned from acceptable discourse.

[nmbluesky]

9. 5...4...3...2...1...

Wait for Palin's Facebook...

[Romulox]

11. Don't see the point. "Mental retardation" is a medical term.

Would changing "cardiac infarction" to "bad heart thingy" help patients in any way? :shrug:

[jmbo2890]

27. A heart attack isn't externally apparent

Truthfully, it doesn't. But there isn't a traumatizing stigma attached to the word "infarction", there is around the word "retard". People with disabilities such as Autism or Down Syndrome can't control the way they are and people have tormented and persecuted them with as little as that one word. How's that for a little clarity?

[provis99]

13. so how long before "intellectually disabled" becomes banned, too?

there's no stopping the runaway political correctness train.

[cbdo2007]

16. Headline 2019 - "President Palin changes 'Intellectually Disabled' to 'Really Special and Great'"

I agree with you here. There's nothing wrong with saying that someone has "Mental Retardation" if that's what they have. True, it is insensitive to use just slang terms such as "retard" or to say that other things are "retarded" by inferring that they are stupid or inferior, but at some point they just need to let the terms stand as terms.

[REP]

42. "Special" is already a euphemism for mentally retarded :-)

[Confusious]

45. I think we should ban special also

replace it with "surprise gift"

[BlancheSplanchnik]

31. idiot, moron, imbecile were once legitimate psychological classifications

IQ between 0 and 25 were idiots; IQs between 26 and 50 were considered imbeciles; and those who have an IQ between 51 and 70 were considered morons.

These terms were popular in psychology as associated with intelligence on an IQ test until around the 1960s.

Language is always changing :shrug:

[Xithras]

38. Once people begin using it derisively, it becomes offensive.

And, for what it's worth, there are ALREADY a number of groups that fight against the word "disability", preferring the term "differently abled".

[Confusious]

46. I knew it!

5 years and people will be clamoring to change this word also.

intellectually differently abled

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. Do you find being asked to not insult people oppressive? nt

[Confusious]

47. I do

How else am I suppose to talk about sarah palin, newt, demint, Tucker Carlson

they're differently abled?

[Common Sense Party]

49. Or how else are we supposed to talk about you?

[Skittles]

48. you sound like a fucking repuke

[mkultra]

18. this sucks, now i have to start calling dumb ops "intellectually disabled"

[cbdo2007]

22. Actual this gives us greater freedom to use "Mental Retardation" and similar

slang terms because they are no longer associated with Intellectually Disabled people, so we don't have to worry about offending anyone.

It's a win/win/win!>!>!>!>! ha hahaha

[mkultra]

44. its not true, it puts us behind the pejorative curve

all official terms for states that are considered sub desirable eventually end up as pejoratives thus forcing the official term to changed.

[bobbolink]

24. Too bad he couldn't find it in himself to publicly reprimand his chief of staff for using "Fucking

Retards".

:nuke:

[Odin2005]

26. K&R +1,000,000,000,000

[BlueIris]

30. I'm all for more inclusive, respectful language, but I don't love either term.

"Intellectual disability" doesn't really seem any less demeaning to me than "mental retardation."

[Change has come]

56. Intellectual disability is a term chosen by people who are disabled.

I suppose since the severity of a disability is defined by IQ level, it makes some sense.

[Book Lover]

60. For those of us who live with the reality of the situation, please believe me, there is a difference

nm

[Xithras]

35. Why that? I thought the term "cognitive disability" was the correct one.

"Cognitive disability" is the term used in most accessibility and medical publications today. I wonder where they came up with "intellectual disability". I've never heard that one before.

[lumberjack_jeff]

36. Win. n/t

[pgodbold]

39. Among the right perhaps the vilest of their pronouncements against us is the word intellectual.

It is a curse more profane than liberal or socialist or fag. This will aggravate the right when it is said that the lack of intellectual ability is in fact a disability. They are going to hate this.

[lumberjack_jeff]

43. No.

They'll hate it because hating on people is their primary purpose in life.

[mentalsolstice]

40. Nice to know here at DU

It's still acceptable to discriminate against persons with mental and physical disabilities. Wow...let's go back to when we debated the acceptance or non-acceptance of the "N" word.

What's the problem here? If a minority wants to chose the terms they're identified by, what is the problem with accepting that? I don't use the "n" word in it's proper dictionary definition, simply because the identified minority eschewed it.

[jillan]

53. +1000000 It's unbelievable to me how people, even at DU, can get upset when their 'group' is being

called a name, but could care less when another group of people are being called a name.

I know - it's because people with disabilities are an easy target....just like the republicans who constantly take their benefits away because they won't protest out in the streets. Even people with disabilities DESERVE RESPECT!

Ugh:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[mentalsolstice]

58. My head hurts just thinking about it! nt

[REP]

41. Why was this necessary? Why does medical terminology need to "feel good"?

I'm in kidney failure. Making it "renally challenged" doesn't make my kidneys function at a higher level. Same with this useless name change.

[jdp349]

50. Does that mean we can use the word "retard" as an insult now?

[jillan]

55. Does that really make you feel better? Can I call you an asshole now?

[jdp349]

57. I'll take that as a no

:silly: :silly: :silly:

[Starry Messenger]

51. Wow, I really thought people would think this is cool.

Legal language is a part of our social relationships. Of course it matters.

[lumberjack_jeff]

52. It is, it is and it does. n/t

[seabeyond]

62. i have always had a tough time with my wording on people with lower iq... so i said people with

lower iq

i thought intellectual disability, rolled it around in the brain a bet and ya

works for me. adequately express what is meant. so i like

[distantearlywarning]

61. Changing Words vs. Changing Attitudes

The reason "mentally retarded" is an insult is because people have used it that way, and because it describes a stigmatized class of people.

As soon as "intellectual disability" becomes a term in common use, it too will start being used in a derogatory fashion, because it too describes a stigmatized class of people.

What is needed here is a change of attitude, not a change of words.

[NC_Nurse]

63. My thoughts exactly.

[hayu_lol]

64. I wish that the powers that be...

would spend more time and money helping those who are mentally disabled than dreaming up new ways to describe the problem.

Maybe more spent on stem cell research and DNA indicators would be productive.