In the past decade or so, the word retarded has started to take a negative meaning. The word is supposed to describe a mental setback or difficulty, but in today's society it has come to mean someone stupid or incapable of doing high-level activities. This could not be more far from the truth. Just because a kid has a learning disability, does not make him any less of a person. It does not make them any less human.
Using the word to describe someone who has a mentally disability is perfectly okay, and that is what the word is meant to be used for. It is when the word starts to be used in a derogatory fashion to describe someone who is supposedly "dumb" or "stupid" that the word picks up a negative meaning. This is extremely offensive and just flat out wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObkxEXKoklI
We need to stop saying the word retarded, as a society. There have been many movements, both in legal action and societal action to stop this. The word retarded is no longer legally able to be used in healthcare, federal education, and labor. Also, there have been movements and organizations devoted to this effort, such as http://therword.org/. They have organized against this hateful word, and encourage others to do the same. Do the same: spread the word to not say the word.
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