I find myself using the word “retarded” from time to time. I’m not involved with academics, I’m just lax. I usually correct myself because I do understand that it is hurtful.
And to answer the question, I’d rather stay the way I am.
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i know someone who has had brain damage from childhood who is superior in many ways to a person in the full throws of psychosis,
i would say i wouldn’t like to be any and to be honest i wouldn’t like to choose bc if i say i’d rather be neurally deficient then i am saying that being sz or whatever is worse and vice versa and i don’t want to choose.
If I describe someone as mentally retarded, I am simply accurately describing their medical condition. That’s not stigmatizing. Saying that mentally retarded people offer no value to society is stigmatizing and wrong because you’ve gone beyond describing a medical condition to offering an ill-informed opinion of it. This is an obvious distinction to me. I cannot understand why so many people cannot make the same distinction.
I have a heart condition that literally results in retarded circulation. I can’t do sustained heavy aerobic activity. Never have been able to or will be able to. Doesn’t mean I can’t excel in other areas. I do. Pointing out my heart condition doesn’t stigmatize me.
Here’s an awesome example of someone who is mentally retarded:
Doesn’t stop him from bringing the awesome. Your world only ends with a label if you decide to let that be the case.
10-96
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When I worked as a Special Education paraprofessional ( one on one Aide) for decades - it was a big no no to use the word “Retarded” when working with children with Down’s Syndrome.
I was told by the psychologists - social workers and administrators never to use the word “retarded” or “mentally retarded” when dealing with intellectually disabled students or their parents or guardians. One of my coworkers was written up for using the word “retarded” when talking to a parent.
It is not a question of being politically correct - in the real world when working with patients, clients, special ed students - certain words matter
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In this part of the country “■■■■■■” has always been used as a put down and insult.
One thing about words like these is that the person referred to is the one who can decide if it’s offensive, not the one using the word. As I understand, people with these disabilities and their families really dislike the term. It is on them alone to decide if it is offensive.
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This was approx. 3 or 4 yrs ago - why do you ask?
You guys are really sensitive to worry about this.
Sure, Wave. I get it. Practicing psychologists learn to use scientifically imprecise language in the appropriate situations. But they are practicing psychologists, not college kids. Some things are learned in the field, not the classroom.
They should know better as well -
I am totally done with this - its all getting old
i think a lot of these words have some very bad negative connotations
and i think its more about finding ways to describe these illnesses and/or disabilities that is more acceptable.
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i have a learning disorder called Dyslexia i use a spell checker most of the time
other times when i cant spell anything ill ask my husband for the spelling he get annoyed by me doing so he tell me to try google
i know i have nothing like downs syndrome or anything that major as autism but it effects me every day
Things like buying food etc i have to get my husband to deal with that as i dont know if anyone is ripping me off
my grammar is really bad as well
The word retard is a horrible word i was called that a few times by people who were brainner than me
i hate it
because i was in the retard class
Funny, I was sometimes called a ■■■■■■, 'tard, mental ■■■■■■, mental case, and mental in school. Yet I got good grades and sometimes was used in class to help some other kid who had problems with their work. I think it had to do with my not being too good at sports at the time, and also I was different than most of the other kids. Plus some kids knew I took pills for hyperactive, but they didn’t understand what hyper was and just used the dreaded R or M word…
Well, Mortimer, at least you probably won’t have to be told not to use that word if and when you start working with the mentally challenged in a clinical setting.
Remember that rule we came up with about unpleasant experiences sometimes being seen as good practice? I guess we are just going to see a long list of people condemning you for not having full professional skill yet, but my guess is that you will learn from it. 
I don’t even appreciate the word intellectually challenged. It’s hurtful. It must be so helpless to not be able to think freely and constructively and as a principle we should help the disadvantaged as we too are helped as schizophrenics. In general providing both conditions are serious I narrowly prefer our disability where we can choose to help ourselves, medicate and use our mind to be more independently functional. Being absolutely psychotic is a rollercoaster but I think more ostracising to lack the ability to communicate on a par with others for not understanding how they feel or what they mean. At least medication can normalize us moderately enough.
I guess if I wouldnt have to go through the suicidal thoughts and feelings any more than the norm. I pretty much have major depression, and schizophrenia. This means I am at a higher risk for suicide. That is why I am glad I stopped the alcohol because I came across info that said me drinking alcohol or using recreational drugs would put me at an even higher rate of suicide that I already had. Also I think I have an gene or something that was making me an addict.
Fair point… I get where your coming from…
Maybe it’s because both my parents are teachers… Just like with Wave… it’s a big no-no.
My parents didn’t put up with us calling someone retarded.
It just has never sit well with me… I’ve seen a lot of bullying and people picking on the “retarded kids”.
when I’ve heard it used… … it’s been used as a put down.
I’ve heard people say… it’s OK to mess them over… steal their stuff… make them spill their lunch… they are retarded so what do they know? It a very ugly word for me… I try not to let it upset me… but it just does.
Sorry, can’t help it… no matter how scientific it can be used… no matter how many scientist proclaim it’s OK… it’s just something that hits my head the wrong way and causes some gut reaction I just can’t shake.
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Thanks! @BryanAshley
A lot of the time I think I’m just smart enough to know I’m dumb.
oh well, one can’t know everything, and I sure wouldn’t care to anyway.
To know everything would take all the wonder out of this world, and I really enjoy spending a lot of time thinking of all the posibilities that could be.
It makes a good hobby.
Okay everyone I want to clear something up- I did not mean “retarded” in a vulgar deragatory sense, I meant it in a psychiatric sense, like it is used in the ICD-9 and 10.
It looks like I should have said that as a pretense.
I do not used the word “retarded” in my speech, save for this one time, I was trying to be precise by using medical terminology. Sort of like how I do not use the word “schizophrenic” and how I say “have schizophrenia” in my speech.
I only use label words in medical terms because I admit to being a chronic paranoid schizophrenic, but I say it differently; I say “I/he/she has chronic paranoid schizophrenia” most of the time unless it is for school or being very precise and adhering to medical linguistics. For example, I tell medical professionals “I’m schizophrenic” but I tell people I meet “I have schizophrenia.”
Hope this clears things up. I do not call mentally handicapped people “retarded” unless I am speaking from an academic perspective. In class, saying “mentally handicapped” is vague, so in class I have to specify “mentally retarded” if that is what I mean.
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Well like the crow I also used to have bad dyslexia, but judging from my grades in English class for college I’ve out grown the disorder… I rather be called dyslexic than “mentally challenged.” I think you have to make a distinction in labels between people with ADD and dyslexia on one hand and people with very low IQs on the other, instead of lumping them all into one category.