This sucks. Courage? For what? Now we have people thinking we're incapable of playing sports. He sounds handicapped too. What an image. I was just checking how to spell the name and I get a link with this guy commenting on the basketball video:
"ppl like you p**s me off! the kids got autism for f**k sake! he only sounds normal because his disease will gradually get worse as he gets older and will suffer. thats why as hes still young and wants to achieve something special. "
Edit: Just checked up on it, he didn't make the team because he was too short. That's the real handicap.
i didn't know autism was alhzimers. ugh.
so playing basketball is a speical thing most people can't do huh? i can play basketball pretty okay...
i wouldn't want an award for courage just becuase i'm doing percived normal things, it's becuase it's something i've been afraid to do for a while.
Tell me about it. The guy you quoted is truly an ignorant retard. I have no interest in basketball, but I've won awards for other sports! How come no one's trying to make an incorrect movie about me? For that matter, he surely can't be the only one who's accomplished something athletic. This is a bunch of bull.
There's this girl I know who said, "The thing is, he won't even be able to remember it."
"Yes, he will!" I quickly said.
"No, he won't!" she argued, "Autistic people can't remember anything! My teacher said so and my mom said so!"
"Well, they were wrong. Of course he will!"
"No, he won't!"
"Yes, he will!"
"No, he won't!"
"Yes, he will!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
An adult finally made us stop. :roll:
Please don't say retard. It is dehumanizing and unnecessary.
curebies and people who don't know better say that all autistics are retarded or something...when we're not.
we shoudln't be calling other people names...it's stupid.
all the more we need to tell people that autistics aren't inferior beings...
Listen, I never refer to anyone called disabled - - another term I don't like - - as retarded. That would be hypocritical. The only people I ever do use the word for, and only when I'm upset, are curbies and the ignorant. And yes, I should have thought before saying it here.
However, my *point* was legitimate. Please don't pick on one word I mistakenly used. You know, eat the meat and spit out the bones. Let's drop this area of the conversation altogether, please. I already feel outcasted enough here, being nothing like most other Aspies.
Retarded doesn't have to refer to anyone or group. You could properly say a fruit's retarded if it has bruises or mold on it. And I think you used it quite correctly.
Retarded doesn't have to refer to anyone or group. You could properly say a fruit's retarded if it has bruises or mold on it. And I think you used it quite correctly.
This society does not attach the word to certain conditions of fruit. It has been deliberately applied to people with mental disabilities in order to dehumanize and strengthen societal prejudice againt them. It doesn't matter how one single person is using it, they are using it against a specific cultural backdrop, which includes the assumption that people with cognitive disabilities are less valuable than "normal" people. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is inapropriate in anything other than a citational context and highly offensive no matter who it's applied to.
It's like saying that the "n word" only applies to certain types of african americans. It is not only historically false, it is ignorant and insensitive.
This is the same issue. No matter how you look at it, the english word "retard" is a slur.
No matter how you look at it, the english word "retard" is a slur.
Where'd you get that idea? I have a counterexample:
"Ankle pains retarded the runner, preventing him from winning the race."
re‧tard /rɪˈtɑrd, for 1–3, 5; ˈritɑrd for 4/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ri-tahrd, for 1–3, 5; ree-tahrd for 4] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object)
1. to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
–verb (used without object)
2. to be delayed.
–noun
3. a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
None of those definitions look like a slur...
That's hardly the common usage. And not how it was used here either.
Using a dictionary to prove a point is extremely childish. I already mentioned the social backdrop of it's usage, you have not responded to that.
Saying that someone is mentally retarded, if they are mentally retarded, is entirely appropiate. Using the word retard and throwing it at people as an insult is not so appropiate.
Saying that someone is mentally retarded, if they are mentally retarded, is entirely appropiate.
Joel Smith recently addressed that issue in a blog entry discussing the consequences of the "mentally retarded" label:
You’re okay - as long as you aren’t labeled retarded…
I continue to see a very distressing trend among the autistic community. Basically, it’s okay if you’re autistic, so long as you aren’t labeled as mentally retarded. If you are…well, then you are someone to pity, to feel sorry for, and who has less to offer the world. Often, you’re the type of person who should be cured or aborted.
One of my autistic friends has told me that she couldn’t bear the thought of having a kid that is labeled as mentally retarded. She would see that as a good reason to abort the child, because it would spare the child the miserable life he would have if he was born. She’s against abortion of autistic children on the basis of autism, however.
Others take pride in their autism and say things like, “We’re not retarded. We have a lot to offer” - as if people diagnosed as mentally retarded do not have a lot to offer. (sadly many truly believe they don’t, just as many believe someone who’s not a “team player” doesn’t have anything to offer)
People diagnosed with mental retardation, like people diagnosed with autism, have a developmental disability. For the same reason that autistic people, with their “deficits” in social skills, executive function, and communication are valuable, people who have “deficits” in areas other than the ones we have are also valuable. There are differences, yes, but there are always differences between people.
People diagnosed with mental retardation want the same thing that autistics without that label want - a society that accommodates their differences without making value judgments about their worth. They don’t want to be seen as defective and broken anymore than we do.
But for some reason, it’s okay to see them as defective and broken. After all, “everyone” agrees about that. “Society” has taught us that it’s sad when someone scores lower on some standardized test, and that they should receive pity and that we should hope for a cure one day.
It’s unfortunate that autistic people often don’t see that these are the same things others say about us, and these things are just as invalid when applied to people other than us.
http://thiswayoflife.org/blog/?p=35
I agree with ConLang: the term "mentally retarded" shouldn't be used, except in the context of disability rights.
Saying that someone is mentally retarded, if they are mentally retarded, is entirely appropiate. Using the word retard and throwing it at people as an insult is not so appropiate.
I thank you for your statement on retard.
But so-called "mental retardation" is determined as a function of mental age, which is astonishingly bereft of scientific value. It assumes a tremendous number of falsities about an individual: a single line of development, a sinlge order of development, and a single speed of development. Most of all, it perpetuates the false assumption that one disability implies another: if you can't learn to tie your shoes, you can't learn to read, if you can't speak, you can't think. Just because you happen to score a certain way.
Frankly, the idea of mental age needs to be abolished. One is quite capable of describing mental ability or disability without concocting "proper" rates of development.