When Words Wound...op ed written by a young man with Down syndrome

[Guest guest]

Op-ed:

‘When words wound’

August 19th, 2008

From The Roanoke Times:

lin s, a 26-year-old Special Olympics athlete who has Down

syndrome, writes that he enjoys his life and work and explains why he is hurt

by the term, “retard.” s says he spent days telling his dad

what he wanted to talk about, then they worked on it over and over until the

article said what meant.

So, what’s wrong with “retard”? I can only tell you what

it means to me and people like me when we hear it. It means that the rest of

you are excluding us from your group. We are something that is not like you and

something that none of you would ever want to be. We are something outside the

“in” group. We are someone that is not your kind. I want you to

know that it hurts to be left out here — alone. Nothing scares me as much

as feeling all alone in a world that moves so much faster than I do.

You don’t mean to make me feel that way. In fact, like I say in some

of my speeches, “I have always depended on the kindness of

strangers,” and it works out OK most of the time. Still, it hurts and

scares me when I am the only person with intellectual disabilities on the bus

and young people start making “retard” jokes or references. Please

put yourself on that bus and fill the bus with people who are different from

you. Imagine that they start making jokes using a term that describes you. It

hurts and it is scary.

Last, I get the joke — the irony — that only dumb and shallow

people are using a term that means dumb and shallow. The problem is, it is only

funny if you think a “retard” is someone dumb and shallow. I am not

those things, but every time the term is used it tells young people that it is

OK to think of me that way and to keep me on the outside.

That is why using “retard” is a big deal to people like me.