That's so...
Apr. 11th, 2011 04:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
author_by_nightWhen I was in middle and high school, I mentored and/or helped disabled students on several occasions, some of whom were mentally retarded. In other words, "mentally retarded." I also had a few friends with learning disabilities that, while minor, did make them very "different."
The shit the students I mentored and my friends went through was awful. They were taken advantage of their "friends", they had their lockers broken as a sick "joke", and moreover, they were shunned. You weren't supposed to talk to them, you weren't supposed to know them, and even half the kids in Best Buddies pretended not to know them most of the time. (Not all of them - one of my friends was the Vice President in our school's chapter, and she went out of her way to include them in things. But most of the kids in Best Buddies took it as some sort of resume deal.)
It doesn't end in school. People with learning disabilities are taken advantage of all their lives, in group homes, by "loved ones", by strangers looking for a laugh.
That is why I get very, very irritated when I hear people say "retard" or "retarded" to mean something stupid, bad, etc. Especially when the "retard" in question said something mean or ignorant.
Don't get me wrong - I'm sure that most people who say those words don't mean it that way. I know a lot of people who are very nice and use those terms. But that doesn't make it any less offensive to many people.
Not really sure what the point of this post is, except... I feel like if I complain about people using the word without explaining, I look like one of those people who dreams up reasons to be offended. And maybe I am one of those people just by posting this, but I really don't think I'm the only one bothered by the constant use of that term.
So this is me explaining why I personally find terms like "retard" and "retarded" extremely offensive.
The shit the students I mentored and my friends went through was awful. They were taken advantage of their "friends", they had their lockers broken as a sick "joke", and moreover, they were shunned. You weren't supposed to talk to them, you weren't supposed to know them, and even half the kids in Best Buddies pretended not to know them most of the time. (Not all of them - one of my friends was the Vice President in our school's chapter, and she went out of her way to include them in things. But most of the kids in Best Buddies took it as some sort of resume deal.)
It doesn't end in school. People with learning disabilities are taken advantage of all their lives, in group homes, by "loved ones", by strangers looking for a laugh.
That is why I get very, very irritated when I hear people say "retard" or "retarded" to mean something stupid, bad, etc. Especially when the "retard" in question said something mean or ignorant.
Don't get me wrong - I'm sure that most people who say those words don't mean it that way. I know a lot of people who are very nice and use those terms. But that doesn't make it any less offensive to many people.
Not really sure what the point of this post is, except... I feel like if I complain about people using the word without explaining, I look like one of those people who dreams up reasons to be offended. And maybe I am one of those people just by posting this, but I really don't think I'm the only one bothered by the constant use of that term.
So this is me explaining why I personally find terms like "retard" and "retarded" extremely offensive.
