Casual Language: Offensive Language

How often during one day do you hear peers using offensive terms in casual language? Today's society has gotten into the habit of using certain words as adjectives. There has been a current movement to end the use of terms related to race, gender and sexual orientation in popular culture. But there is still a large accumulation of offensive language that the public needs to be educated on.

The figure to the left points out only eight commonly used adjectives that can be offensive to different groups of people. It is commonly understood that people who use this offensive language do not intend to demean a group of people, but that is often the case. I will be focusing on the use of the word retarded, which is something I do not go a day without

In the past decade many disability groups have chosen to replace MR with different language. The Arc, the primary family advocacy organization for people with intellectual disabilities, ended their use of MR in 2004 stating it "was offensive to many people." The American Association for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), the primary professional organization for people with disabilities, also using people first language.

Overtime, there has been a trend of the change in language used when speaking about people with disabilities. Terms such as moron, idiocy and imbecile, are no longer accepted in the disabilities community. But these are also terms that have come to be used in popular culture. There is a difference between these terms and retarded it though. These terms were commonly used as diagnoses and slang in the early and mid-20th century. In 1975 MR became a classification for special education, and continued to be used until the late 1990s. It was not until slang for MR began being used in popular culture that advocates saw its negative

Researchers found that current generations have began using it as slang for fun, such as "acting retarded" when you are intoxicated. Though this may not be considered as having a negative attitude towards people with disabilities, I still believe it may have negative repercussions towards the emotions of people with disabilities.

In an interview with CNN, Ellen Seidman, said that hearing the r-word makes her worry for her 9-year-old son Max, who has cerebral palsy. She worries that people will not respect her son when they associate that word with his intellectual disability. She understands that most people are not using the word to demean people with disabilities, but she points out that many do not understand that it merely implies the idea that people with disabilities are stupid or losers.

In the end, there is a long list of derogatory terms that are used in current popular culture. Using slang to compare oneself or someone else to someone with a diagnosed disability, disorder or impairment is degrading to that group of people. This is another way that current society continues to belittle people with disabilities, though many are unaware of the effects their attitudes or actions may have. Disability advocates, such as people who have signed the End the R-Word campaign, are working to build awareness and teach society the sting that comes with the