Ban the word “retard”

Last Updated on 17/11/2019 by Alex Squire

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “No, Thank You.”

I hate the word retard. This word is often used to refer to people with learning disabilities such as Autism. But the people that use it are completely ignorant. They seem to think that disabled people are idiots, and that they have no purpose in life. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Every disabled person is a human being. We all have thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Every disabled person is able to accomplish great things in the right environment, and with the right opportunities. Never write off a disabled person without understanding them.

Why denigrate a person because they may not be as clever as you? It’s not their fault. They didn’t choose to be disabled, so don’t act like they did. It’s not okay to make jokes about people with cancer, so why is it okay to make jokes about people with mental disabilities?

Some people even use the word to refer to disabled people in general. They seem to think that if the person has a disability they can’t possibly be clever. In fact using the word retard says more about the speaker then who it is aimed at. It shows that they have a deep-seated ignorance of disabilities. There are many different types of disability; some are completely physical and some are psychological, and some are mixture of the two. If you label disabled people as being stupid then it shows that you yourself have much more to learn then the people you are insulting. Do yourself a favour and educate yourself, and then you will see why the word retard should be banned. It has no place in modern society.

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