In the wake of the controversy over “Tropic Thunder” Salon.com writer Lynn Harris analyzes the linguistic origins of “retard” and other insult words. Always popular with the playground set, “retard” has grown in strength in the “online snarkosphere,” Harris says, as more people need more words to complain about more things.

Ultimately, Harris says, activists are trying to get people to be aware of their language and think twice about the insult’s real-life impact. She closes with a quote from Gail Williamson, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles:

“People are comfortable using ‘retard’ as a dis because in the past no one has stood up and said anything in numbers worth counting. Most marginalized groups come from places of family pride and tradition. They are able to stand strong together out of their heritage and make a statement. But people with intellectual disabilities, scattered through different families, are not part of a celebrated culture.

… I think today’s high-tech world has finally allowed us to take a stand. Perhaps the word has continued to grow in popularity, since there has been no public pressure against it. Until now.”

Kevin Myers, writing in the Irish Independent, says he was “revolted” by the sight of the Palins holding Trig on the state of the Republican convention like the “trophy at the end of a World Cup Final.” An excerpt:

It would be bad enough if Trig were just the human blob that all infants are at that age, but, of course, he is more than that: he also has Down syndrome. And was that the semi-subliminal message that we were being given? That not merely is Sarah Palin a fundamentalist Christian, but she is also an anti-abortionist who consciously chose to have what used to be called a Mongoloid baby: and look, here’s his little face to prove it?

.. So this little lad became the first-ever infant to assist its mother to launch her campaign to become the vice-president of the USA. And such are the new taboos which now prevail that anyone who had referred to little Trig as a Mongoloid child would probably have been lynched.

No doubt, that is a good taboo: but, meanwhile, another taboo has apparently vanished. It is the one which protected the very young — never mind the mentally handicapped and physically impaired — from being publicly exploited by their parents for political gain …

From CNN, ABC News Political Radar blog:

Sen. John McCain’s campaign said Sen. Joe Biden had “sunk to a new low” when he raised a debate over who cares more for children with disabilities. The comment came after the Democratic vice presidential candidate said advocates for children with disabilities should support stem cell research.

Biden’s comment at a rally in Columbia, Missouri:

“I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well, guess what, folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin opposes stem cell research, although McCain favors it. Biden spokesman David Wade said the Delaware senator’s comments were not directed at Palin. McCain-Palin spokesman Ben Porritt said,  “Playing politics with this issue is disturbing and indicative of a desperate campaign.”

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On “The Brian Lehrer” show, on WNYC radio in New York, Brian Skotko and I discuss ways that Sarah Palin’s candidacy could affect the lives of children with disabilities and their families. Dr. Skotko is a physician at Children’s Hospital Boston and Boston Medical Center, and has authored major research on how physicians deliver a diagnosis of Down syndrome to new and expectant parents. Audio is provided on the WNYC website.

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On display at the checkout stand at your local supermarket: Us Weekly, with a Palin cover and a subhead that reads “Palin and newborn Trig, afflicted with Down syndrome.” The main headline is “Babies, Lies and Scandal.”

The publication’s choice of language is critiqued by author and advocate Cynthia Kidder here: Palin’s VP nomination highlights media’s disability language gaffes.

“Despite Us Weekly’s current cover photo description of Palin’s son as ‘afflicted with’ Down syndrome, he in fact has Down syndrome, not an affliction. We need to strive for person-first language where an individual is not defined by their disability. If the media takes the lead, the rest of us will be educated about appropriate, whole-person language regarding persons with disabilities.”

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In the National Review, editor Rich Lowry says Trig Palin would do the nation much good if he could make us reexamine our outdated assumptions.

It used to be that children with Down syndrome were institutionalized at birth. Without the love, care and education that any child needs, they lived stunted lives. Now, a generation of people with Down syndrome has been raised by families that love them. Advances in medical care and education mean they live full lives. Their capabilities differ — as is the case with everyone — but they graduate from high school, hold jobs and live on their own.

The Palins will have a humbling, heartbreaking and inspiring lesson in life’s priorities from Trig. Here’s hoping it’s one that, one way or the other, the rest of us share.

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From the [UK] Telegraph, Associated Press, Time Magazine, UK Times and elsewhere. Video from the [UK] Telegraph.

British comedian Russell Brand hosted the MTV Video Music Awards last night and received mixed reactions after encouraging the audience to vote for Barack Obama and calling President George Bush a “retarded cowboy.”

Here’s the exact quote, pulled from video of the broadcast (above):

“Some people, some people, I think they’re called racists, say America is not ready for a black president. But I know America to be a forward thinking country, right, because otherwise, you know, would you have let that retarded cowboy fella be president for eight years?”

The awards show had been hyped as a comeback appearance for Britney Spears, but the [UK] Times reported that she and Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus appeared “horrified” during Brand’s quip about Bush. Brand also joked about chastity vows taken by the Jonas Brothers, a hot young rock band.

Commenters to the MTV site criticized Brand’s insertion of political themes into an entertainment event, but few challenged his use of language. Comments can be seen here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)

Writing in Salon.com, Rahul K. Parikh, MD, says what troubles him about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is that she had a choice about whether to have Trig, yet she would deny that choice to other women.

By knowingly giving birth to a Down syndrome child, Palin represents a minority of women. A 2002 study found that about 90 percent of pregnancies in the United States where the fetus was diagnosed with Down syndrome were terminated.

Rabid anti-choice activists have called that trend eugenics via medicine. But try telling that to a mother who is told early on in her pregnancy that she will be raising a child who will have a host of medical and developmental problems, requiring intense medical and social attention for the rest of his or her life. It can be tragic and nearly impossible news to bear.

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Susan Senator, writing in the Washington Post’s “On Faith” section, says there’s nothing wrong with being retarded. What’s wrong, she says, is the use of the word “retard” as an insult, designed to reduce a person to only one trait. Senator would like to help people appreciate the “loveliness and complexity” of people like her son Nat, who has a cognitive impairment. An excerpt:

So I got to thinking some more about the case against the word “retarded,” especially in light of the recent uproar over the movie “Tropic Thunder”. And I really feel that the campaign to stop using the “R” word just does not get at the heart of things. Pure censure is something people feel in their heads, in their shame-reddened faces. But do they feel it in their souls? Can they try to understand that there’s not just one way to be, that God works in mysterious ways, as they say, and that you never know how a person - whether retarded or Rhodes Scholar - might affect you at your core. Understanding that will make a difference..

Maybe, instead of stamping out the “R” word, we could come up with a tag line that gets the offenders to think, for a change. A new slogan, something like: “‘Retarded.’ It’s more than you know.” After all, there is far more power in facing something, naming it, and confidently owning it, than there is by running from it. After all, we are much more than our IQ score.

See also:

Words can hurt — letter by Paula Stanovich to the Los Angeles Times. Stanovich is a professor of special education at Portland State University. (See extended version, which appeared earlier as a comment on this website.)

Making fun of a serious disability — letter to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Some words hurt — letter to the Salt Lake Tribune

New film raises disability issues — letter to the Charleston Post and Courier

‘Thunder’ just cruel to nation’s disabled — letter to Baltimore Sun

Film shows ‘heartless ridicule’ by using word ‘retard’ – [Warren, NJ] Reporter

Michael Gormley, AP capitol editor in Albany, writes in Newsday that New York Governor David Paterson’s speech at the Democratic convention was a “rare and serious foray for Paterson into the topic of disabilities.” Paterson, who is legally blind, spoke about the need for supports for people with disabilities.

Paterson has traditionally avoided all the familiar cliches about inspiration and overcoming adversity, and has also avoided mentioning his disability except in jest. Instead, he has focused on using his considerable intelligence and memory to leave Albany power brokers “in the dust.”

In recent years, however, Paterson has realized that “pretending he wasn’t blind didn’t help those who were.”

Related post here: Disability wasn’t Paterson’s choice for convention speech topic