By Karen Meyer on WLS-TV, Chicago (ABC affiliate), with video:

Correspondent Karen Meyer interviews people with disabilities and disability rights advocates who are offended by the use of the word “retard” in the film “Tropic Thunder.”

Meyer, who is deaf, speaks and signs simultaneously while the text of her words is spelled out across the screen in close-captioning. “Whether it’s language or action, negative portrayals of people with disabilities often opens doors to prejudice and abuse,” she says.

She uses her own voice to narrate the piece, and includes footage and interviews of people with disabilities. Here’s what people were saying:

“Words are very powerful and your words form attitudes, beliefs, values that turn into actions. People who might watch this movie might say, well people who are retards, I don’t want them working in my company, I don’t want them living in my neighborhood I don’t want them participating in my schools next to my child.”

— Jon Voit,  president and CEO of Seguin Services, a not-for-profit serving people with developmental disabilities.

“When I’ve seen the movie I did not like how they put us down. It was the very vulgarest movie I’ve ever seen. The language and how they made fun of handicapped people.”

— Glenora Mills, a woman with a developmental disability

From Fandango.com:

When some 3,000 filmgoers were asked to choose the top movie-inspired costumes for Halloween, Ben Stiller’s “Simple Jack” character from “Tropic Thunder” was listed as #9 in the men’s category. The character, referred to in the film as a “retard,” stirred controversy among disability rights advocates who said its depiction of people with intellectual disabilities was insulting.

See also:

‘Tropic Thunder’ belittles people with mental retardation, by Kim Clark in the [Rochester,NY] Democrat and Chronicle

An excerpt:

We’ve come a long way in appreciating the abilities of all people. That said, how reckless for DreamWorks to whittle down decades of institutionalized anguish and torment to a mere snicker over a person who may talk slowly or have a crippled body.

DreamWorks, families like ours are not upset because you hurt our feelings; we’re upset because it reminds us that we’re still advocating for basic dignity and human rights.

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.

Beverly Beckham, writing in the Boston Globe about “Tropic Thunder,” says the movie is

the worst thing to come along for the developmentally disabled since public schools used the dunce cap to humiliate. Because in 107 minutes the word “retard” (or “retarded”) is said 17 times. This gives a green light to the movie-going public: If “retard” can be tossed back and forth on the big screen, getting laughs, getting legitimized, why not use it on the schoolyard or at the water cooler?

… It seems at first glance to be an equal-opportunity insulter.
But it isn’t. Body parts cannot take offense to what is being said. And excrement is only excrement. These words are just crass. Nothing more. “Retarded” is personal. “Retarded” targets people. “Retarded” hurts. This is why advocates for the mentally disabled are speaking out.

… “Retarded” is a stereotype too long perpetuated by Hollywood. No much different from Step ‘n’ Fetchit. Condescending. Controlling. And however unintentional the result may be, this new “don’t take it seriously” version of the retarded man is serious because it stirs up and serves up some very old themes.

See also:

• Second thoughts on Tropic Thunder boycott — Pamela Wilson of Bellaonline.com originally supported the boycott. Upon further reflection, she says she wants everyone in her community to see ‘Tropic Thunder’ so they will understand what offends the disability community.

If everyone sees this movie, many more will appreciate the concerns we bring to their attention. Everyone capable of reflecting on what they have seen has the capacity to understand our protest. We want other parents, human rights activists and others in marginalized communities to experience the language and imagery of the movie so they can make informed decisions about whether to restrict their children’s access to it.

It may be too much to expect from the writers of Tropic Thunder to comprehend that merely using language that demeans, humiliates and intimidates people with disabilities is a form of bullying. But I have higher expectations of people in our community who hear our stories, and hear from our sons and daughters. We must continue protesting, sharing our perspectives, and standing firm against attacks on people with intellectual disabilities. Our children and families are full members of our communities and we want businesses to know we consider their needs while expecting them to consider ours.

• Can we all stop using the R-word? — Paula Scafe in the Austin American-Statesman
• What’s in a word? Plenty — Charita Goshay in the Norwich [CT] Bulletin
• Those insulted at ‘Thunder’ don’t get joke — Chris Hicks in the [Salt Lake City] Deseret News

Writing in the [UK] Guardian, David Tolleson says the movie “Tropic Thunder” sends the harmful message to millions of moviegoers that discrimination against people with disabilities is socially acceptable.

For a population that has been subject to millennia of discrimination and abuse, even to the point of death, it is a major setback, courtesy of Hollywood.

Unfortunately, the damage doesn’t end with the frequent use of the word “retard” and the shockingly awful images of Simple Jack. More troubling is a segment of the film involving Stiller and Matthew McConaughey. When Stiller’s character says he wants to adopt a child, McConaughey looks at a photo of himself with his arm around a boy vacantly staring into space — clearly meant to have an intellectual disability — and says: “At least you get to choose yours. I’m stuck with mine.”

The message is clear — avoid having a child with a disability at all costs. For parents worried about bringing a child with a disability into a world where they may be taunted, or worse, Tropic Thunder may provide one more reason to terminate a pregnancy. Sad for many reasons, but particularly since studies show that overwhelmingly parents and siblings of individuals with disabilities actually rate the experience of having a loved one with special needs very positively.

… we still have work to do before widespread discrimination ends and all people are valued for the diverse and wonderful attributes they bring to our world.

Tolleson is the executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress.

See also:

• Why is Ohio retarded but Connecticut isn’t? — Kim Stagliano, Huffington Post
• Going full insensitive: Movie’s humor is flawed by careless insensitivity – Winston-Salem [NC] Journal
• Plot no excuse for taking potshots— Tamara Dietrich, Newport News [VA] Daily Press
• Letter: A heightened awareness of how a word can hurt — Chicago Tribune
• Letter: Special people don’t need hurtful words – Quincy [MA] Patriot-Ledger
• Letters: Bid to ban use of ‘r-word’ — Houston Chronicle