The editorial board of the Seattle Times says signing the pledge to end the use of the word “retarded” was the least Rahm Emanuel could do after he was caught dressing down liberal Democrats by using the term “F***ing retarded.” An excerpt:

The profanity is not what is shocking, rather the derisive use of the word “retarded.” This word should be discarded with all the other words that have denigrated people who are different — people of color or of certain religious or ethnic affiliations.

… Though news of both gaffes was publicized widely, both Obama and Emanuel called up Timothy Shriver, CEO of the Special Olympics, to make a private apology. Wednesday, Emanuel met with Shriver and five other disability-rights leaders and again made a closed-door apology…. [Tim Shriver]  is not the oracle of the U.S. community of people with intellectual disabilities, able to dispense absolution for all Americans offended.

A private apology in either instance is not good enough. Not by a longshot.

The Wall Street Journal’s “Washington Wire” blog reports that Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc of the United States, is calling on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to make a public expression of regret for his use of the epithet “f — ing retarded.”

The White House has acknowledged that Emanuel used the term, first reported in the Wall Street Journal, and that he has apologized privately by phone to Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver.

“A private call does not seem to us to be what’s called for in this situation,” said Berns. “Rather there should be some kind of statement indicating that he understands what a sensitive issue this is for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Emanuel’s call to Shriver marked the second such apology from the Obama White House. Last spring, President Obama apologized to Shriver privately after joking on the Tonight Show that his poor bowling score was “like the Special Olympics or something.”

In statements Tuesday night, both the Arc and the Special Olympics organizations said their officials would be among a group that will meet with Emanuel at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. In its release, the Special Olympics said the group would discuss “the suffering and pain of people with intellectual disabilities that is perpetuated by the use of the terms ‘retard’ and ‘retarded’ as well as the damage that can be done by the casual use of the R-word – even if it is not directed toward people with intellectual disabilities.”

See also:

Emanuel steps up his apology — Wall Street Journal “Washington Wire” blog

Emanuel apologizes, in wake of Palin slam — New York Times ‘The caucus” blog

Obama’s chief of staff sorry for ‘retarded’ remark — AP/Yahoo

ABC’s Jake Tapper, writing on the network’s ‘Political Punch’ blog, says an unnamed White House official confirms that Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel did use the term “f–ing retarded” as an insult at a weekly strategy session last fall, and that he has apologized to the head of the Special Olympics.

“The White House remains committed to addressing the concerns and needs of Americans living with disabilities and recognizes that derogatory remarks demean us all,” the official said.

The unnamed official said Emanuel called Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver when the report of his choice of words first appeared in a Wall Street Journal story last week, Tapper reported. The Special Olympics is heading up a campaign called “Spread the word to end the word,” which aims to ‘raise the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word ‘retard(ed)’ and encourage people to pledge to stop using the R-word.”

President Obama made a similar apology to Shriver just about a year ago, after he joked on the Tonight Show that his poor performance at bowling was “like the Special Olympics or something.”

Fox News and the New York Daily News report that Sarah Palin is calling on the White House to fire Emanuel over the incident. In a post on her Facebook page, the former Alaska governor said Emanuel’s use of the expletive was “heartbreaking” and charged that his “degrading scolding” had been “completely ignored by the White House.”

Her post was entitled, “Are you capable of decency, Rahm Emanuel?” An excerpt:

Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.

Earlier posts here.

(Photos of Rahm Emanuel and Sarah Palin from New York Daily News)

Officials at The Arc of the United States demanded an apology today following a news report that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel used the epithet “f–ing retarded” to criticize a proposal in a strategy meeting.

The advocacy organization said the report in the Wall Street Journal amounted to “the second  serious verbal miscue by the Administration about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” President Obama apologized last year after he equated his poor bowling performance with the Special Olympics in an appearance on The Tonight Show. An excerpt from the Arc statement:

Mr. Emanuel’s use of hateful language would suggest that it is the White House staff that needs to be taught a lesson in respect for people with disabilities.

Statements such as these — particularly when used by someone at high level — amplif[y] pervasive societal attitudes that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities somehow don’t measure up — that their lives are worth less.  “Using a slur about people with intellectual disabilities to criticize other people just isn’t right,” said Peter V. Berns, chief executive officer of The Arc of the United States.  “For people with disabilities it is disrespectful and demeaning and only serves to marginalize a constituency that already struggles for empowerment on every front,” Berns added.

… The more than seven million individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families demand an apology for Mr. Emanuel’s use of language that denigrates our constituency. The White House needs to lead by example and demonstrate through words and actions that it is not acceptable to use people with disabilities as a source for ridicule. To condone this language is to deny opportunities for people with disabilities in the workplace, in the community, in school, and in every other quarter of society.

The Arc of the United States is an advocacy organization that promotes the human rights of Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, and actively supports their full inclusion in the community.

Peter Wallsten of the Wall Street Journal reports that the relationship between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and the President’s liberal backers has gotten increasingly contentious.

Among Wallsten’s evidence: Emanuel’s choice of epithet when he heard in a meeting about a plan by liberal Democrats and White House staffers to attack conservative Democrats on health care. “F–ing retarded,” participants remember him saying.

Emanuel’s use of the word “retarded” as an insult follows Obama’s “Tonight Show” jest last year linking his poor bowling score to the Special Olympics. The gaffe drew criticism from leaders of the disability community, who called on the President to advance public understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities.

See earlier posts about Obama’s Special Olympics gaffe here.

See also:

Special Olympics’ site “Spread the word to end the word,” campaigning against the use of the word “retard.”

Posts on the use of language describing people with cognitive impairments.

Posts on the use of the “r-word.”

Coverage of bipartisan federal legislation that would strike the term “mentally retarded” from the federal lexicon.

(Photo from the Wall Street Journal)

Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Parade Magazine publisher Randolph Siegel lists a few examples of the ways in which people with cognitive impairments are ridiculed in the national media. Here’s just one: A leading character on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm seduces a character with an intellectual disability, then belittles his victim when she speaks out. “I cringe when I see snark like this,” Siegel says. An excerpt:

Call me overly sensitive. Accuse me of being humorless. Say whatever you want. But if the true measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, then these mean-spirited attacks are not only indefensible, they reinforce the intolerance and discrimination that these children and adults often face in their schools, communities or workplaces. I had never met a “retard” until my daughter was labeled one after untreatable epilepsy ravaged her cognitive development.

… Over the years, I’ve bit my tongue whenever I hear “retard jokes” at business functions — or see a movie like DreamWorks’ “Tropic Thunder” in which “retards” are vulgarly disparaged in a lame effort to generate laughs — or hear a song like the Black Eyed Peas hit single “Let’s Get Retarded.” Even when President Barack Obama described his subpar bowling skills by making an insensitive joke about the Special Olympics on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”, I tried to internalize the pain. But that’s a losing strategy and no longer justifiable.

As Americans with intellectual disabilities are increasingly stigmatized and dehumanized in our media and popular culture, it’s time — now more than ever — for their families and friends to help them fight back.

Earlier post: Daughter with epilepsy needs more than hugs — ‘My Turn’ column by Randy Siegel in Newsweek

See also: Our seizure nightmare, by Randolph Siegel in the Chicago Tribune

(Photo from website of Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy)

From the [UK] Guardian:

Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver, in London in preparation for the GB Summer Games later this month, challenged the UK to do more to support its citizens with disabilities. It is estimated that 8,000 athletes will participate in the games — far short, Shriver said, of the one million who are eligible.

“There are 200 children born in this country every day with learning disabilities and most will grow up and experience enormous prejudice unless we do something about it. So we do need more government support, there is no doubt about it — I think we need to turn the goodwill into real support, into muscle,” he said.

Asked about President Obama’s jest about the Special Olympics earlier this year, Shriver said he appreciated the president’s apology. He said the organization had offered to have some Special Olympics athletes visit the White House to bowl with the president, but to date nothing has happened.