Advocates’ effort to purge ‘retarded’ from laws nears success
WASHINGTON – A national movement to purge the word “retarded’’ from lawbooks and medical terminology is nearing success, gaining support this week from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who apologized to advocates for the disabled for using the term during a private meeting last summer.
The campaign is led in part by the mentally disabled, who are increasingly politicized and eager to escape the stigma associated with the term.
“It’s a time of change’’ said Jill Eglé, co-executive director at the Arc of Northern Virginia, a support group for the disabled, who spearheaded a campaign to change the state code in Virginia.
The words “retarded’’ or “retard’’ feel threatening, she said. Eglé identifies herself this way: “I am a powerful leader with an intellectual disability.’’
In Virginia and 47 other states, politicians have acted to remove the words from the names of their human services agencies. This spring, Congress plans to consider a bill that would replace the words in all federal education, health, and labor laws.
The 2010 professional manual that psychologists use for diagnosis makes the change in the medical label official: “Mental retardation’’ is out. “Intellectual disability’’ is in.
The change came after a decade of debate among social workers, psychologists, and educators, and was voted down once by those concerned that a new term would create confusion and cause some people to lose legal benefits. “It was continued impassioned pleas from self-advocates that made this happen,’’ said Joanna Pierson, president of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, formerly the American Association of Mental Retardation.
The shift in language casts the word “retarded’’ into a bin with more than a century’s worth of discarded medical terms for the mentally disabled, including “idiot,’’ “moron’’ and “feebleminded.’’
“A challenge in our field historically has been that whatever medical term we have used, a significant portion of the public uses it in a derogatory fashion,’’ said Paul Marchand, staff director of disability policy collaboration for the Arc of the United States, which changed its name in 1992 from the Association of Retarded Citizens.
Some advocates argue that the long campaign to change the term has been a waste of time because the lexicon of insults will probably expand to include any new terms and because it has distracted from more pressing needs such as employment assistance.
But for a new generation of people with intellectual disabilities, who are better educated and better organized, changing the language is priority number one. And their recent legislative successes are signaling their effectiveness as a political force.
Leadership opportunities have come slowly to people with intellectual disabilities. Campaigns against forced sterilization or institutionalization or exclusion from public schools have been led by family members or the professionals who work with them.
The nature of a disability that has historically been diagnosed for those with IQ test scores below 70 or 75 makes it harder to give speeches or debate issues. But an increasing number of people with intellectual disabilities are taking the microphone and setting up picket lines to stand up for themselves, following examples set by blacks, women, and other groups.