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Stop the spread of the R-Word!

We all do stupid things every day; some of us more than others. I particularly do stupid things many times within a single hour. Whatever, I'm pretty confident about all that (name the movie), and I've learned to embrace the awkward. But what really yanks my chain is when people jokingly call me "retarded". No, no, I don't personally take offense to it, but I do take offense for all the wonderful people I have meet who do struggle with metal disabilities. I may not struggle with a learning disability, or mental retardation, but just because I don't doesn't mean others don't.

I like to remind people as much as I can that it's not cool to go around saying "that's retarded" or "that's gay". These kind of statements are turning society into a rodent infested hog's nest. These expressions are taking the identity of someone and making it derogatory- which isn't fair at all. Yeah, it's a little awkward when I have to ask them to not say that, but then I remind myself that hey, you're doing the right thing. You're friends will get over it, and hopefully listen to your comment and stop saying it.

It's up to my generation to turn the stigma around and stick a fork in it. I'm sick of hearing people casually putting people with special needs down, or bashing someone because they are gay. Every single person on this planet is different, and every single person on this planet is here for a reason. It's the people who think of themselves as more deserving, or better, that are the ones ruining society. These stigmas are socially constructed, they have been dragged from generation to generation. So, here's my question to you- why can't we stop the use of such a hurtful word? I'm not asking to change the world here, I'm just asking for everyone to rethink the adjectives they are using.

SPREAD THE WORD TO END THE WORD.

http://r-word.org

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