Spread the word to stop the word.

Recently in one of my classes I heard multiple people use the word retarded.  I'm sure many people use the word retarded loosely and don't think much about it and when I hear it I usually don't think twice about it.  However, I started thinking about how the word came to be considered bad and if people really should use it or not and that is what I want to reflect on this week.

I thought about how this word relates to my passion project and how if I'm spreading autism awareness I also need to think about words that can be hurtful towards anyone with mental disability.  Retarded discriminates against people with mental illness in the same way that Nigger discriminates against black people and Fag against gays.  The problem is, retarded has become a word that people use jokingly with their friends unlike other derogatory words that can cause fights if used in the wrong place.  I went online and found an article called "Noah's Dad" and I really liked the points that the writer had.  I learned that there is a campaign called "Spread the word to stop the word" and he even had a link to a PSA posted on his website that I thought was intersting and had a strong message behind it.  I am going to link the website below for anyone who wants to hear about his story and why he stopped using the R-word.  I am going to make an effort to tell people not to use the R-word when I hear it and you should too.

Link to article:
http://noahsdad.com/spread-the-word-to-end-the-word/