Alabama drops MR from state language

From The Times Daily:

The Department of Mental Health and Retardation is losing part of its historic name to modern sensibility.

The department will now be known as the Department of Mental Health under a bill by Rep. Randy Davis, R-Daphne, and Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile. The House passed Figures' bill Thursday.

Antiquated phrases and terminology describing mental retardation have been deleted from the department's code section.

"The phrase mental retardation is a prime example of negative word evolution," Mental Health Commissioner John Houston said Friday. "Use of the 'r word' is being dropped across the nation, on the state level and by advocacy groups; it is most commonly replaced with the term 'intellectual disability.'"

The Division of Mental Retardation Services was changed to Division of Intellectual Disability Services in 2008 but a law had to be passed to change the name of the department, Houston said.

Once Gov. Bob Riley signs the legislation, which he is expected to do, the department will legally become the Alabama Department of Mental Health.