[Salty]

I understand where you're coming from but this is a word that has no racial or cultural significant. I mean, if it's an issue of someone calling you a retard all the time or blatantly mocking someone who's retarded then I'd get it but outright banning the word is too far

man we still having trouble keeping people from saying the n word nobody on earth is ready for that to become a rule

also the word retard isnt a slur, its just kinda rude, just like how most other insult words are rude

"Moron was a medical diagnosis at one point... all were used to insult people who people felt were lower intelligence" ~Happy

Moron was the same word that had the same reputation as "retard" does now because at the time of its inception, the term "mental retardation" did not have any negative connotation. After time passed, however, it slowly became something entirely different from what it meant, as most words do. (For example, the f slur that Matt was referring to used to mean Bassoon in the past.) 

I wanted to showcase some articles to give the community some "Food for Thought" for a lack of better terms.

Attached are articles that I feel are more objectively written (One of them is an article that is an opinion based paper from The Boston Globe but it still has good info)

Article One: click here

Article Two: click here 

Article Three: click here

Article Four: click here
 
Article Five: click here





The third article clearly explains why that the word "retard" is a slur, as it is implying the negative stereotype that those with intellectual disabilities are stupid, unintelligent, etc. The problem is that we have put it so far into regular conversation that we don't make the connection as to why it's offensive. The fifth article shows statistics showing a commonly addressed statement that minorities are overrepresented in special education due to test bias, poverty, poor general education instruction, and insufficient professional development for working with diverse students. This also can be linked to the stereotype that Blacks or African Americans are unintelligent as well; this is also backed by the second article, as it states that Black or African American students with disabilities are more likely to be identified with intellectual disabilities or emotional behavior disorders; article four also backs this up.

*NEW MATERIAL*

In case you're not getting it,  Special Education was used at a point to try and attempt to segregate schools after the Civil Rights Movement, which is why there is 100% racial significance to this word.  Also, people with disabilities do have a culture; if the idea that there is no cultural significance were true, why does the American school system feel the need to sign "Rosa's Law" in 2010 to change the term from being considered "mentally retarded" to "intellectual disability?" Why is IDEA around if there is not a culture about children with disabilities? Why would we have the Special Olympics?  I was more focused on your comment about it having no racial significance when I made this post initially, so I wanted to add some info on culture too. It would make zero sense for us to have passed laws, regulations, and acts for the education system if there was nobody that could benefit from those being passed.  

In the state of Florida, there seems to be data to suggest that Black/African American students are not as likely to be picked in Kindergarten but seem to have the same rate in 4th Grade, which is good and bad because it means that some change has occurred; however, at the same time, you could also say we're doing the opposite problem of rather than having them overrepresented, we're not giving them the help they need. There are other factors besides race that can kick into that, so I would argue that the latter point is a reach; just wanted to state it could be viewed two completely different ways. Article 7 was dated in Feb 2021, so it's incredibly recent data.

Here's a document from the government talking about things I've mentioned: click here

Here's an article explaining that statistic: Article 7: click here

Whether you want to agree with me or not is entirely up to you. I just felt the need to share this; probably due to the fact I want to be a teacher honestly.


Again, I thank you for giving input on this instead of just ignoring it. Do I expect you to read all of those articles? No, but I have them as a reference point in case you're curious as to what I'm talking about when I say that I believe the word is 100% culturally and racially significant.