R-Word Drama Unfolds

The year started out with a thud as President Barack Obama joked on The Tonight Show that his bowling score was “like Special Olympics.”

Soon enough, then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was blasted after The Wall Street Journal quoted the powerbroker using the phrase “f—ing retarded” during a meeting of liberal groups. The incident prompted a White House meeting with multiple leaders from the disability community. Emanuel apologized and quickly took the Special Olympics pledge to end use of the r-word.

But that was far from the end. Public figures from Jennifer Aniston to Rush Limbaugh continued using the term that many in the disability community find offensive.

In the meantime, a quiet effort moved forward to chip away at the words “retard” and “retarded” on a broad scale. And in October, advocates basked in victory as Obama signed federal legislation replacing the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” with “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability” throughout federal health, education and labor policy.

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