It’s been 41 minutes now that I’ve been sitting here alone staring at a completely blank page. I’ve been trying to think of something to write but I have absolutely nothing to say, which is very rare for me. I’m about to shut my laptop when two girls walk in and sit at the table right in front of me. They’re close enough for me to hear their conversation and whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is TBD. I don’t know if they’re being extra loud, or if I’m just being extra nosey. Either way, thanks to this pretty girl with the ugly mouth, I now have a lot to say, and my keyboard is about to take the beating.
This girl looked and sounded like she had it all together, which of course I was jealous of until she started talking. She was venting to her friend about how mad she was at her professor. In fact, her exact words were, “I’m so pissed, he’s legit so retarded.”
Merriam-Webster defines “retarded” as “slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development or academic progress.” This word was basically once used to call people with intellectual and developmental disabilities "stupid," and it’s still associated with them today. Whether meant to be offensive or not, it is, and it should be eliminated from vocabulary entirely.
We hear “you’re retarded” or “that’s retarded” everyday. It has become a common way to describe anything that is negative or flawed. Why are we using a word that is linked to special needs to label something as so? Do you see where I’m going with this? If you’re lucky enough to love someone with special needs, then you know that they are some of the happiest people with the biggest hearts. “Flawed” is the very last way you’d describe them. I’ve learned more lessons about life, love and happiness from my special needs cousin (or "our angel on earth" as my family prefers), than I ever will in school, at work or anywhere else. Newsflash for all the ignorant individuals out there: people with special needs are just as human as you -- probably more human for that matter. They hear you, they see you staring and they have feelings. When you use a word with such a negative connotation, it excludes and makes them feel like they are less than you (which they aren’t, by the way).
In today’s world, we have to be careful while talking about gender, race, sexuality, etc., because everything is offensive. The “R” word is such a derogatory term and just another form of hate, yet no one thinks twice before throwing it out there. It mocks and dehumanizes people with special needs. Why doesn’t anyone care? Why do we hear so much about Caitlyn Jenner, the insults or struggles she and all the people like her face, and the damage that people’s opinions and words does to her? How come we never hear anything about the damage the “R” word does to people with special needs or their families? Why is the difficulty of Caitlyn Jenner’s life and her “struggles” more important than the challenges that my friends and family members with special needs face everyday? Someone let me know.
So, as I finish my rant, I have one more thing to say to the heartless girl with the “retarded” professor. I’m sorry he may be inconveniencing you at the moment, but you’re going to be okay. Hopefully someday, somebody will knock you off your high horse and help you see how lucky you are that you have the ability to get yourself up and ready, walk yourself into school everyday, and are able to talk and say such nasty things. Not everybody is able to do that.
