From the Washington Post:

Federal law does not require Catholic schools to educate students with disabilities, and financial constraints have historically made it difficult for the schools to do so.  Church officials now say that is starting to change, with recent figures showing that 42 percent of Catholic schools offer some services for kids with disabilities.

“Children with disabilities have a right to a faith-based education,” said a school superintendent from a Virginia diocese. “We want to provide that as best we can.”

From the Washington Post, a report that Rahm Emanuel will join the campaign to end use of ‘R-word.’  The White House chief of staff apologized for using the word “retarded” during a meeting last year, and told a group of disability rights advocates that he will join their campaign to discourage the use of the word. The story described Emanuel as “the sometimes foul-mouthed senior Obama adviser.”

Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver and five other advocates said Emanuel had “sincerely apologized.”  An excerpt:

“We are happy that he will join more than 54,000 other Americans in pledging to end the use of the R-word at www.r-word.org, and that he committed that the administration would continue to look for ways to partner with us, including examining pending legislation in Congress to remove the R-word from federal law,” they said in the statement.

Other coverage:

On ABC News (video), Bill Weir takes a closer look at the history and significance of the ‘R-word.” He reports that the word had been used by professionals as a sensitive alternative to terms like “idiot,” “imbecile” and “moron” to describe patients, but has increasingly come to to be seen as offensive. Forty-four states have renamed their departments of mental retardation and federal legislation would strip the word from federal regulations. But there are some who defend the term and Rahm Emanuel’s use of it, he says.

“We might sanitize one word, but then another one is going to pop up in its place. It’s all about the attitude toward that group and the culture,” said Georgetown University linguistics professor Deborah Tannen.

Rush Limbaugh used the word repeatedly in his national radio broadcast. On his website, the transcript appears under the headline “The president’s chief of staff apologizes to ‘f — ing retards.’” An excerpt: (more…)

Ben Smith, writing in politico.com, says the Special Olympics disputes a claim from an unnamed White House source that Tim Shriver accepted Rahm Emanuel’s apology for calling liberals “f–ing retarded.”

An excerpt:

The vice president for communications at the Special Olympics, Kirsten Seckler, told me that this account of the conversation is “inaccurate.”

“Tim didn’t accept his apology,” she said. “Tim can’t do that. He can’t accept an apology on behalf of all people with disabilities.”

Earlier posts here.

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

In the wake of a news report that the White House chief of staff used the words “f–g retarded” in a strategy session, Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver called on Rahm Emanuel to join his campaign to stamp out the “R-word.”

Shriver’s letter to Emanuel, released today, said the terms “retard” and “retarded” perpetuate stereotypes and stigma against people with intellectual disabilities, and are “just as painful as any number of racial or ethnic slurs, jokes or taunts that society has committed to eradicating from our lexicon.”

“Of course, I have no way of knowing if this expression was actually used by you or anyone else,” Shriver wrote. “Regardless of whether the term was actually used or not, I would ask you to join us in this important fight.”

He called on Emanuel to take the pledge at www.r-word.org to avoid using the terms, and to help “change the conversation and raise awareness about the power of language and the hurtful nature of the R-word.”

“I know that private political discourse can sometimes include profanity,” Shriver said. “But at the same time, our community cannot accept the idea that they will remain the butt of jokes and taunts.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Emanuel used the epithet in a meeting when told about a plan by liberal Democrats and White House staffers to attack conservative Democrats on health care

The Special Olympics serves more than 2.5 million athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities in 180 countries.

From AP/Business Week:

Special Olympics organizations around the country are cutting back on services and staffing as contributions and sponsorships decline. Special Olympics Inc. saw its year-end assets fall to $58.4 million in 2008, a 33 percent drop from $87.8 million in 2007. The Washington-based parent organization reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars when the stock market tanked in 2008.

Economizing measures by groups around the country range from the elimination of some mountain sports in Northern California to the suspension of statewide games in Oregon. Special Olympics Tennessee has stopped allowing new participants in some events, reduced the number of participants in others, and frozen salaries.

From  Boston Globe (with video), Boston Herald, AP/Washington Post,and elsewhere.

Officials and Special Olympians, who were clad in ribbons, led the funeral procession carrying a Special Olympics torch to St. Francis Xavier Roman Catholic Church in Hyannis yesterday, paying tribute to their champion, Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Loretta Claiborne, a former Special Olympics athlete and longtime friend of Shriver’s, said in her opening remarks, “She was chosen to have a life to serve others, the weakest of the weak, the castaways, the throwaways of society, at the time they would say the mentally retarded, and I am one of those people.”

Shriver’s daughter, California First Lady Maria Shriver, said of her mother during the eulogy, “If she were here today … she would pound this podium … and ask each of you what you have done today to better the world.”

Other guests who attended the private two-hour funeral Mass included Vice President Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

Shriver’s brother Sen. Ted Kennedy, who has brain cancer, did not attend the funeral.

See also:

Eunice Kennedy Shriver—Editorial in Cape Cod Times

Photos: Eunice Shriver’s Funeral Mass—New York Times: The Caucus Blog

Special needs adults mourn Shriver at funeral—Boston Globe Metro Desk

(Boston Globe photo)