A database of news and information about people with disabilities and disability issues...
Copyright statement: Unless otherwise stated, all posts on this blog continue to be the property of the original author/publication/Web site, which can be found via the link at the beginning of each post.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The old saying sticks and stones may hurt your bones but words can never hurt you, isn't always true. Advocates for the developmentally disabled say words do matter.
The word retardation is defined as slowness in development or progress and is often used to describe people with mental and physical disabilities. But the word carries a negative stigma that many people find offensive.
But on March 30 lawmakers and advocates will celebrate the victory of putting this word to rest.
The Department of Mental Retardation will be changing its name to the Department of Developmental Services.
The new name will take effect on June 30. Advocates of the mentally disabled hope changing the name will bring a greater awareness to the power of words and how they can affect people.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From WWLP-TV:
