Change The Retarded Conversation

The Special Olympics is fighting against the demeaning use of “Retard”. I’m curious what the friendly uses are. As you can see in the promotional poster, it is being compared to other powerfully slurs, such as Nigger, Spic and Fag.




How come they don’t do what other minorities have done and begin using the word in reference to themselves? That’s what I’d do if I was clinically retarded. I’d roll up into the cafeteria all like, “Whaddup, my retards? Are we gonna get that gold medal today or does this ‘tard have to smack a ho?” and then it would catch on and they would all use it to grow closer as a community because when everyone is using the word freely and without malice it apparently desensitizes it. You don’t see anybody getting mad about those other words anymore, do you?

Maybe it’s because I’m a minority, but I would rather be called a name than have people treat me like the name because they don’t understand the difference between niceness and condescension.

Think about it like this: Whenever folks that are handicapped physically or mentally attend school, mix with the public and engage in a competition such as the Special Olympics, they are trying to achieve a sense of normalcy because they are obviously different than the majority of their peers.

So, for every fucker leaned over a wheelchair exaggeratedly and disingenuously asking 15 yr old Tommy with MS if he had a blast at the zoo, there is a Tommy somewhere thinking, Gee, I went to the zoo to have fun like the other kids, not to be talked down to afterwards like a newborn fucking kitten by this douche. He’s talking to me like a retard, he might just well call me a retard. It’d be less cruel.

The last thing these kids need in their lives are healthy adults getting them riled up over a stupid word they can barely pronounce. With difficulty eating, bathing, and other general life functions, how two teenagers in a Wendy’s choose to describe their buddy Gary’s trucker cap should be none of their concern.

Here is a quick solution for all sides:

1. Each word on that poster’s list is used associatively and liberally by the youths of that demographic. It’s time the handicappers take “Retard” back.

2. Don’t be the person who is angered by folks using “Retard” as a descriptor but then talks to handicapped people as if excessive, fake excitement is somehow going to make the Harlem Globetrotters more entertaining than they already are. The kids may not look like they are enjoying it, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t. Maybe their face doesn’t work like yours. Deal with it.

3. Treat handicappers as normally as you’d treat anyone. Part of the reason people feel uncomfortable helping the hindered is they are unsure if they can muster enough faux-stimulation and high-pitched voices to keep up the ruse. Handicappers strive for normalcy. Help them achieve that at every possible turn. Except at inciting useless anger, which is just a day-in-the-life for regular people, but shouldn’t be for folks with greater personal concerns.


It’s just a word, not a culture of hate like the others. Retards weren’t enslaved or die daily trying to cross the border for a better life. Although it is often a genetic disorder, it doesn’t force them to act different to avoid persecution or questions about their sex life. It’s just a word and if that word makes you angry, then this blog will make you angry. If this blog makes you angry, you are weak and should not be a caretaker of people who need solid role models.

Teach them strength by showing them how to turn a cheek to a bad word. If they keep it up for a few hundred years, we may someday have our first legally retarded President of the United States.