The National Society of Collegiate Scholars has teamed up with Special Olympics for a new public service announcement. The NSCS provides scholarships to students who are in the top twenty percent of their class. They have more than 700,000 members from over 270 colleges in all fifty states and Puerto Rico (you lovely island).
The take-away message might be "Smarty-pants people don't say 'retard'. So don't you do it, either." I can get behind that message.
I really liked this!
ReplyDeleteTerrific!
ReplyDeleteI like it but I think it is just a tad too long. After a while I got distracted from the message.
ReplyDeleteThe campaign against the phrase "That's so gay" made it clear that the objection isn't to the word "Gay" (which the LGBT community embraces), but to the phrase, which demeans homosexuality by inference.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, "Spread the word to end the word" campaign makes it seem that anyone who innocently uses the word "Retarded" in an appropriate sense as a synonym for "intellectually disabled" is as bad as someone who yells "You stupid retard!" at a teen with Down syndrome.
IOW, the intended message is a little confusing. Just sayin'
In contrast, "Spread the word to end the word" campaign makes it seem that anyone who innocently uses the word "Retarded" in an appropriate sense as a synonym for "intellectually disabled" is as bad as someone who yells "You stupid retard!" at a teen with Down syndrome.
ReplyDeleteI see what you're saying, but the clinical use of the word "retarded" is also becoming a relic. Federal law, and most states as well, have removed it from the vernacular, precisely because it has become such an emotionally loaded term.
I think you'd be hard pressed to find a responsible therapist or special educator who is really using it very often these days. Five or ten years from now? I doubt you'll find any.
Have you seen this video?
ReplyDeleteMake sure you watch until the very end.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/379371/march-30-2011/tim-shriver
Sara