A best friend is someone you can count on to always make you laugh, smile, and be there to give you a hug whenever you need one. One of my best friends from high school is Jake, an 18-year-old boy with Down syndrome.
I first met Jake the August of my senior year through an organization called Athletes Helping Athletes and for the next three months we attended every football game that my high school played. He became an honorary captain for the coin flip, rode the bus with the team, and watched the games with me from the sidelines. He was undoubtedly our most dedicated, enthusiastic fan.
Regardless of how intense the games grew to be, Jake always managed to make the players laugh and draw smiles from the coach. He loved to hold my hand as he explained the plays to me, and now when I coach his Miracle League basketball games, I get a big hug after every play. Needles to say, my friendship with Jake has been very rewarding, and I have come to realize something of utmost importance: the way we treat people with Down syndrome, from everyday language to parenting styles, greatly impacts their mindset and potential.
A popular movement that goes viral every few months is the #SpreadtheWordtoEndtheWord campaign, which was started by author Jonathan Franklin Stephens. As an individual with Down syndrome himself, Stephens seems to advocate primarily on behalf of his daughter, Olivia, who was also born with a mental disability. The campaign is designed to raise awareness about mental disabilities, the stigma behind them, and the need to end the misuse of the word “retarded.” Stephens states, “This choice of word changes not just [their] world[s] but our world.” He goes on to say that “the words we use and the discrimination they engender… make us into walls. We become hegemonic walls that perpetrate society’s belief that differences separate us.”
Sarah Chrisien, author of the article “Examining the Damaging Impact of the R-Word,” presses that the word has very negative implications when used inappropriately.
“When you refer to something as ‘retarded,’ you not only sound ignorant, but you are insulting… everyone in the special needs community,” because “overall, this outdated and offensive term minimizes the worth of people with special needs, and equates them to something undesirable or unimportant.” Chrisien argues that if the word is used in reference to something like a poorly functioning blender, it effectively dehumanizes the incredible human beings who identify with the term. Unfortunately, the word is rather ubiquitous; you can hear it several times a day, especially in schools, where kids misuse a lot of words without realizing their harmful impact. The word needs to be prohibited the same way curse words are. These seemingly trivial gestures can widely affect how individuals with mental disabilities regard themselves and their places in the world, so it is important to acknowledge the senselessness of misusing “retarded.”
Next time you see the #SpreadtheWordtoEndtheWord, take the time to consider the importance of this campaign, and the lives that it affects. Every little change we make in our own habits is a step in the right direction.
Images: 1, All other images courtesy of author