Woman with Down syndrome inspires families in Washington state – KNDO/KNDU-TV, Yakima, Washington — Karen Gaffney (left) speaks out about her experiences earning a regular high school diploma and a degree from Portland Community College, swimming across Lake Tahoe, and participating in a relay team that swam the English Channel. Says Gaffney:

“I’ve changed all that data.  I’ve changed their doubts. I have improved and inspired so many lives, spread my messages of being fully included in a regular classroom setting.”

Link to video here; earlier video of Karen Gaffney on the NBC Today show here.

People with Down syndrome live fully — letter to the Sacramento Bee from Elaine Linn. An excerpt:

People with Down syndrome go to school, work, have meaningful relationships, make decisions about their lives and live independently. They become dedicated employees and loyal friends.

… There’s something terribly wrong with a society that purportedly values diversity yet places a distinct lack of value on people who aren’t “perfect.” I don’t know one perfect person and it’s hard to understand this willing acceptance of terminating pregnancies based on inaccurate information about potential “imperfections.” Yet it exists 90 percent of the time with Down syndrome.

Avoid Tropic Thunder, a cruel comedy — by Eric Johnson in the Grand Forks, ND, Herald

The fact is that even among the various species of hate speech, ridicule of those with retardation is unique in its brutishness. Unlike racial minorities, religious adherents or the physically disabled, those with developmental disabilities cannot well defend themselves with wit and well-crafted retorts. That’s why the arguments of Downey and Black — that everyone has the right to say whatever they want — are especially hollow.

New system for developmentally disabled is needed — Sheila Romano in the Springfield, IL, Journal Register (institutionalization, housing)

Taking the fear out of difference — Baltimore Sun (education, attitudes)

(more…)

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.”

From the New York Times:

Internationally acclaimed fiber artist Judith Scott had Down syndrome and spent most of her life in an institution. (An example of her work is at left.)

A documentary about Scott’s life is among the films that will be featured in “Realabilities,” a New York film festival dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of diverse human experiences. The festival is presented by the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan.

“We want to enlighten people that they don’t have to be afraid when somebody who’s got cerebral palsy walks into their building or comes in with a wheelchair,” said an organizer.

(New York Times photo)

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

‘Tropic Thunder’: Hollywood still doesn’t get it — Lawrence Carter-Long in disaboom.com

Hollywood can ill afford to dismiss the views of disabled advocates and their allies now. It didn’t have to be this way, but by failing to consider the nations ‘largest minority’ Dreamworks created the controversy themselves.

Disrespecting the disabled belittles us all — Mary Yoder in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

I implore you to think twice before using derogatory terms or laughing at people because they have disabilities. Consider reaching out to someone who has an intellectual disability and find the gifts she/he brings to family and community, or talk to an employer who knows firsthand that people with intellectual disabilities make great employees. I ask you to put people first, period.

Youth sports buzz: Another word to ban on your team — Jon Buzby in the Norwich, CT, Bulletin

Kids often look up to their youth sports coaches more than any other influential person in their lives, including us parents. Schools already don’t tolerate the term. If we add one more heavily-populated place that doesn’t accept it — youth sports organizations — we can really make a difference. And when you think about it, isn’t that why we all coach youth sports?

Protests miss the point of ‘Tropic Thunder’ — James Bowman in the American Spectator

The right to cause offense; Protests at new satirical film are misplaced — David Thomson in the UK Guardian

Disabilities are not a punchline — letter to tricities.com in southwest Virginia

People with intellectual disabilities deserve respect — letter to the Daily Breeze in Cumberland, RI

Reasons why the film’s use of ‘retarded’ is offensive — letter to the Bloomington, IL, Pantagraph

Josie Byzek, writing in The Progressive, says she won’t be joining the boycott of “Tropic Thunder,” but she hopes the controversy will focus attention on “the real pain that slurs cause people with disabilities.” She’d like to see some films that portray people with disabilities as three dimensional people, as well as some with “disabled actors playing roles that have nothing to do with disability.”

An excerpt:

Any person with a disability who has been the target of the R-word knows it is painful. But for decades, many of us have tried to get the media, especially Hollywood, to realize it’s even more hurtful to exploit disability-themed inspiration and pity in order to get a prize of some sort.

… Movies like these depend on nondisabled audiences dehumanizing or infantilizing us.

We don’t want your pity. We want dignity.

Byzek is managing editor of New Mobility (www.newmobility.com), a lifestyle magazine for wheelchair users.

From the Kansas City Star, Indianapolis Star:

The AMC Theaters in Kansas City have begun a series of special screenings for people with autism-spectrum disorders and their family members (at left). At a recent screening of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” managers turned up the lights, turned down the sound, and didn’t insist that patrons remain quietly in their seats. Children occasionally stood up, clapped, flapped their arms or ran around in circles in the aisles.

A similar event occurred in the Kansas City restaurant T-Rex Cafe, where managers recently reserved a secluded section for people with autism and served a buffet tailored to avoid certain foods at the direction of parents. A Kansas City-area gym opens its facility once a month to children with special needs, turning off the music for the occasion.

AMC Theaters is also exploring what it calls “sensory-friendly” films in nine other cities nationwide.

(Photo from Kansas City Star)