By Alan Sepinwall, [Newark] Star-Ledger

NBC’s new drama “Parenthood,” premiering Tuesday night, features a family whose son is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. It’s among an increasing number of television shows that are trying to depict characters with the disorder, and is one of the first to acknowledge the diagnosis. An excerpt:

… the storyline — a personal one for one of the show’s creators — has the potential to be a breakthrough in how television depicts characters with a condition that’s increasing in prevalence, both nationwide and in New Jersey.

“I am always happy when I see characters on TV who are portrayed with Asperger’s, when it’s done correctly,” says Lori Shery, president and co-founder of ASPEN, a national Asperger support and education group based in Edison. “We need to change the cultural perception.”

See also:

Off-kilter characters: TV shows feature kids (and adults) with what looks like Asperger’s — Ellen Gray in the Philadelphia Daily News

Site advocated using kids with Down syndrome for target practice

From Reuters, New York Time,  Agence France Press:

Italy’s equality minister threatened legal action against the “thousands of idiots” involved in an Italian Facebook group that called for children with Down syndrome to be used for target practice.

The page, which has been shut down in the wake of public outrage, proposed the activity as an “easy and amusing” solution to rid the world of “these foul creatures.” It carried a photo of a baby with Down syndrome, with the word “imbecile” written on its forehead. As of late Sunday, the page had attracted 1,700 members.

“Italy will not tolerate incidents of discrimination of any sort, let alone against the disabled,” Equality Minister Mara Carfagna told Italian television Tuesday. “Those responsible for creating this madness will be prosecuted by the law.”

The outrage over the Facebook site comes as four Google executives are on trial in Milan facing criminal charges of defamation and privacy violations in a case involving videos posted on a Google website. The videos show a boy with autism being bullied by peers. Prosecutors allege that the company should have removed the videos after it was made aware of their content.

Google representatives say a guilty verdict might require the company to review content before allowing it to be posted on YouTube.

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.

By Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson.

Refuting an op-ed in support of the use of the word “retard,” Gerson says what is worst about the current public conversation is “a dismissive attitude toward the struggles of the disabled.”

People who wish to understand the context of the current debate, Gerson says, would do well to study a prominent 20th century American movement that sought to direct human evolution by eliminating the supply of people with developmental and physical disabilities in the population. Called the eugenics movement, it targeted for elimination a number of groups identified as “socially unfit,” including the “feebleminded,” “epileptics,” the “insane,” the “deformed,” and the “deaf.” Forced sterilization of the “unfit” was endorsed by the U.S. Supreme Court and did not end in the United States until the 1970s.

An excerpt:

Given this history, the r-word does not seem so innocuous. And defending it does not seem so heroic. [Christopher M.] Fairman can have his cherished f-word, which merely soils and trivializes the sex act. But defending the r-word is not the protection of free expression; it is the defense of bullies.

… There is not an exact correlation between vileness of speech and vileness of character, but there is a rough correlation. Words such as the r-word and the n-word often reveal aggression, contempt and hatred. They are a form of verbal violence. In these cases, what Fairman calls “self-censorship” is really kindness and moral judgment. And what he regards as free expression is just rude, abusive and cruel.

… Yes, government involvement in the censorship of words is dangerous. But what the Special Olympics is proposing –- encouraging people to take a personal pledge against the derogatory use of the r-word –- is not government censorship, it is social stigma. In this case, such stigma is a sign of moral maturity.

I have signed the pledge at www.r-word.org. I hope you do as well.

Related columns by Michael Gerson.

Roy Richard Grinker, writing an op-ed in the New York Times, endorses a proposal by the American Psychiatric Association to fold Asperger’s disorder into the broader category of autism spectrum disorder. An excerpt:

The change is welcome, because careful study of people with Asperger’s has demonstrated that the diagnosis is misleading and invalid, and there are clear benefits to understanding autism as one condition that runs along a spectrum.

… We no longer need Asperger’s disorder to reduce stigma. And my daughter does not need the term Asperger’s to bolster her self-esteem. Just last week, she introduced herself to a new teacher in her high school health class. “My name is Isabel,” she said, “and my strength is that I have autism.”

Grinker, a professor of anthropology at George Washington University, is the author of “Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.”

In a letter signed by CEO Peter V. Berns, the Arc of the United States has invited talk show host Rush Limbaugh to meet personally with a group of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their parents and siblings to discuss his repeated use of the word “retard” on a recent radio broadcast.

An excerpt:

Self-advocates, parents, disability rights activists and others are rightly concerned that your comments simply serve to further degrade and denigrate the 7 million individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who struggle on a daily basis to be included in society.

… I cannot understate the effect of a word many consider an epithet –- it is deeply offensive to people that are living with intellectual disabilities, and the tens of millions of their parents, siblings, family members and friends. It is a harsh reminder of the institutionalization, sterilization, abuse, discrimination, violence and exclusion they have faced, and continue to face, as they merely seek to live typical lives.

From Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Miami Herald:

In the wake of the flap over Rahm Emanuel’s use of the word “retard,” Sarah Palin has served notice that she’s not happy with another public figure who used the slur. Only this time, her target is on the Republican side of the aisle.

Palin, who is campaigning this weekend for Rick Perry, condemned remarks that the Texas governor’s top political adviser made on a conference call with a Dallas television station. Complaining about some campaign arrangements. Dave Carney said, “That’s just retarded. That’s the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard.”

Spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said Palin was not calling for Carney to lose his job. “Gov. Palin believes crude and demeaning name-calling at the expense of others is disrespectful,” Stapleton said. A spokesman for Perry confirmed that the remark had been made, and said the governor was “extremely disappointed.”

Politico blogger Ben Smith reports that rocker Ted Nugent, who is scheduled to play the national anthem at Sunday’s Perry/Palin event,  also uses the word “retarded” in a way that might be considered offensive.

He told Royal Flush Magazine in December that hunting is “the last pure perfect function of mankind.

“That’s killing deer and eatin’ ‘em,” Nugent said. “It’s perfect. It’s untouchable on all levels. Unless you’re retarded.’