In an interview with the New York Post’s Page Six Magazine, comedian Sarah Silverman talks about her life, her program on Comedy Central, and her comic view of disability. An excerpt:

In one new episode, Sarah realizes she’s “retarded,” a plotline that, like most others on the show, will surely incense her critics. With regard to riling people up, Sarah shrugs. “I love retarded people,” she says. “A lot of the time, networks resist dealing with retardation at all in television, and I think it’s so much more insulting to not have them be a part of the world we’re reflecting than to risk offending not them, but advocates of them. They [people who are mentally challenged] are not offended.”

Earlier posts here.

Michael Arrington, writing in TechCrunch.com via the Washington Post, reports that comedian Sarah Silverman has agreed to donate her time to a Los Angeles-area fundraiser to benefit people with Down syndrome.

Proceeds from the March 6 benefit in Culver City, called TwentyWonder, will go to the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles.

Silverman stirred controversy last week when she appeared before an international audience at the exclusive TED conference and cracked jokes referencing the current debate about the use of the word “retard.” Here’s how CNN described her routine:

In front of an audience of Nobel laureates, mathematicians, artists, scientists and inventors, Silverman did not hold back on her edgy brand of comedy.

After talking about the merits of adoption and the problem of overpopulation, Silverman joked on stage that she wants to adopt a “retarded” child with a terminal disease.

[Note: A writer on Salon.com said the term Silverman used was "terminally ill retard."]

That would earn her sympathy points, she said. But, because the child would die soon, she said she wouldn’t have to be stuck with the burden for too long.

In a video on the CNN site, Silverman explains her approach to comedy and says there is one category of humor that strikes her as offensive and unfair.

“I don’t really care for like fat jokes about women, specifically,” she said.

“Because I feel that we live in a society where fat men deserve love, and fat women do not deserve love — at least in white America. And so I feel like that’s an ugly thing, and it doesn’t make me laugh.”

In response to questions about Silverman’s upcoming appearance at TwentyWonder, DSALA board president Gina Vivona sent out the attached response. An excerpt:

It is DSALA’s position that we will treat people like we wish to be treated; with acceptance, respect, and understanding. Within those guiding principles, our goal is to extend the reach of our community by building relationships, providing education and increased awareness whenever possible.

There are many ways to be heard. One is to show people who don’t understand just how amazing our community members with Down syndrome are.

(Image from CNN video)

Says she’s advocating on behalf of ‘special needs community’

From the New York Daily News, CBS Political Hotsheet blog. Video at Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor.”

During an appearance on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday, Sarah Palin renewed her demand that President Obama replace White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for calling a group of liberals “F-ing retards.”

Calling herself a champion of the “special needs community,” Palin also attacked the “cruel, cold-hearted” writers of a Fox animated show that lampooned a character with Down syndrome, but defended conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s repeated use of the word “retard” as “satire.”

An excerpt:

“When I gave my vice presidential nomination speech at the GOP convention, I promised the special needs community that they would have a friend and an advocate in the White House,” she said. “And just because John McCain and I did not win, that did not take away my passion for helping those who want to reach out and ask me to do what I can to allow this country, this world to be more welcoming place for all innocent people, all special needs children. I am going to keep pursuing that in our country until we are a more tolerant, compassionate, welcoming place for the innocents.”

Full transcript here.

From the Washington Post:

A nonscientific readership by the Washington Post turned up widespread opposition to efforts by disability advocates to discourage the use of the “R-word.” With more than 3,000 votes tallied, 51 percent opposed the campaign, while 24 percent supported it and another 24 percent reported no opinion.

The results were tallied in answer to the question: Advocacy groups for people with intellectual disabilities are campaigning to end use of the word ‘retard’ or ‘retarded.’ What do you think of their initiative?

The informal survey accompanied a Q&A with Christopher M. Fairman, a law professor from Ohio State University, who was discussing a column he wrote for the Post entitled “The case against banning the word ‘retard.” The vast majority of those who participated in the online conversation seemed to agree with the position Fairman took in his article. Here’s one response, from Annapolis, Md:

I oppose banning the word because I do not find it offensive.

I say this as the sister-in-law of a mentally retarded woman, now 58, who has has lived with my husband and me for the past 14 years. I recently look early retirement to be with her full-time, as her needs are becoming more urgent. For example, she needs help in toileting, but will only allow a woman to assist her.

I love her dearly, but calling her “mentally challenged” is a joke that minimizes the great amount of time, effort and patience required to meet her needs. “Retarded” is a neutral term that more accurately reflects that is involved.

See also: Shriver: ‘Retard’ is the language of bigotry

(Graphic from the Washington Post)

From Michael Arrington at Techcrunch.com via the Washington Post. Also, MediaPost.com, HuffingtonPost.com:

Appearing at the exclusive TED conference in California last week, comedian Sarah Silverman performed a routine that made liberal use of the word “retarded,” web sources are saying.

The gist of her remarks: She said she’d like to adopt a “special needs child” so that people would think she was an “awesome person,” but she’s concerned that a “retarded child” would never leave the nest. So she’s decided that she would adopt a “retarded child with a terminal illness so it has an expiration date.”

The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference draws heavy hitters from around the globe, and is devoted to what it calls “ideas worth spreading.” In addition to Silverman, speakers this year included Bill Gates and James Cameron. Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Gordon Brown have appeared in past years.

Silverman’s routine drew criticism from conference organizer Chris Anderson, who twittered that he thought it was “god-awful.” Anderson later “admitted he was out of line,” reports Mediapost.com.

Arrington writes that Silverman, who has built a career challenging taboos, was…

“following suit behind Megan McCain and Stephen Colbert in making fun of Sarah Palin. She didn’t say this, but I knew this. Why did I know this? Because this is a trend with comedians right now and I know why they are doing it. They are doing it for a cause. They don’t want that word turned into the “R word”. Saying the word “retarded” can only have extreme negative power if you let it and Sarah Silverman is brave, because she got on stage in front of some global minds and dropped it over and over and over.”

Silverman was among celebrities featured last year in MTV’s “How’s Your News?” a comedy/reality show in which reporters with disabilities traveled the country in search of news.

(Photo from www.ted.com)

Timothy Shriver, writing in the Washington Post, says the word “retard” masks a prejudice that is so widespread that it goes unquestioned. People with intellectual disabilities, he says, are frequently the victims of abuse, indifference and negligent death. They face crushing unemployment, poor health care, poor living conditions and social ostracism.

Changing these tragic realities won’t be possible, Shriver says, “until and unless we awaken our fellow citizens to the truth: Most of us look down on people with intellectual disabilities, and we don’t even realize it.” An excerpt:

And that’s why this word is important: “Retard” is a symbol of a pain few realize exists. Even when it’s not directed at people with intellectual disabilities, it perpetuates that pain and stigma. We hope that the discussion about ending it will awaken millions to the hope of ending the discrimination it represents.

If we’re successful, the world will discover the joy, hope and sparkling individuality of millions of people. With that, real change will come.

It can’t come soon enough.

Shriver is chairman and CEO of Special Olympics.

Writing in the Washington Post, Ohio State University professor Christopher M. Fairman opposes what he describes as efforts to censor the use of the word “retard.” An excerpt:

It’s not that I’ve come to praise the word “retard”; I just don’t think we should bury it. If the history of offensive terms in America shows anything, it is that words themselves are not the culprit; the meaning we attach to them is, and such meanings change dramatically over time and across communities.

… If interest groups want to pour resources into cleaning up unintentional insults, more power to them; we surely would benefit from greater kindness to one another. But we must not let “retard” go without a requiem. If the goal is to protect intellectually disabled individuals from put-downs and prejudice, it won’t succeed. New words of insult will replace old ones.

Words are ideas, and we should be reluctant to surrender any of them. Freedom of expression has come at a dear price, and it is not worth abridging, even so we can get along a little better. That’s one F-word we really can’t do without.