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Outdated mental illness terms being removed from law
Waterbury Republican-American ^ | May 9, 2007 | Julie Carr Smyth (A.P.)

Posted on 05/09/2007 10:12:04 AM PDT by Graybeard58

Old-fashioned terms such as imbecile, lunatic and idiot were purged Tuesday from the Ohio law books, a harbinger of national momentum to once again revisit the words that most sensitively describe mental illness.

In the last century, idiotic and feeble-minded were accepted labels. Later, "mental deficiency" was deemed to be more respectful. More recently, "mental retardation" replaced that as less derisive. Today, the phrase is increasingly seen as unacceptable. It is a sentiment felt around the nation.

In March, hundreds of disabled adults, their advocates and caretakers in Alabama rallied at the Statehouse in Montgomery to urge legislators to remove the word retarded from state code.

In April, Connecticut's House of Representatives voted unanimously to scrap the name of the state Department of Mental Retardation, and replace it with the Department of Developmental Services. The state Senate has yet to act on the bill.

Amid the concern, the former American Association of Mental Retardation -- which changed its own name in January -- is making preparations to revise the definition of mental retardation for the 11th time since 1908.

"The self advocacy community really hates the word retarded, and they've been very vocal about that," said Doreen Crozer, executive director of what is now known as the American Association of Intellectual and Development Disabilities.

The Ohio bill, which Strickland was scheduled to sign later Tuesday, was prompted by a chance encounter with the old lingo by Ohio Advocates for Mental Health while they were doing legal research. The resulting legislation cleared both the House and Senate unanimously.

Removing the terms from the Ohio Revised Code won't completely resolve the problem, however. Both "idiots" and "insane persons" are banned from voting in the Ohio Constitution, first written in 1802, and changing that document would require a constitutional amendment.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: orwellalert
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Old-fashioned terms such as imbecile, lunatic and idiot were purged Tuesday from the Ohio law books

To be used in the future, exclusively, at Free Republic, directed at people who disagree with your learned and wise opinion.

1 posted on 05/09/2007 10:12:05 AM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: Graybeard58

Idiots! Morons! Imbeciles! Democrats!..............


2 posted on 05/09/2007 10:14:15 AM PDT by Red Badger (My gerund got caught in my diphthong, and now I have a dangling participle...............)
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To: Graybeard58

not even on C-Span?


3 posted on 05/09/2007 10:14:18 AM PDT by wayne_b24 (every day in the Light is a good day...)
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To: Graybeard58
terms such as imbecile, lunatic and idiot were purged Tuesday from the Ohio law books

Too bad. They fit so well when used to describe certain people.


4 posted on 05/09/2007 10:14:52 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: Graybeard58

Hear,hear.


5 posted on 05/09/2007 10:14:55 AM PDT by kinoxi
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To: Graybeard58
I can't keep up with this P.C. speech codes.
 
"Differently abled" instead of "gimp"
"Developmentally delayed" instead of "friggin' retard"
"Folicularly challenged" instead of "baby hair"
 
Where will it end?

Owl_Eagle

If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.

6 posted on 05/09/2007 10:15:35 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: Graybeard58

“State of Connecticut, Department of One Beer Short of a Sixpack”?


7 posted on 05/09/2007 10:16:24 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: RECONRICK

How about replacing them all with “Dee dee dee?


9 posted on 05/09/2007 10:19:06 AM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: Graybeard58
Old-fashioned terms such as imbecile, lunatic and idiot were purged Tuesday from the Ohio law books. From now on, a single term, "moonbat democrat," which encompasses all of these previously-used terms, will be used in their place.
10 posted on 05/09/2007 10:20:56 AM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
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To: Graybeard58

When speaking to Liberals, must we now address ourselves to the “sanity-challenged” or the “intellectually different”?


11 posted on 05/09/2007 10:21:18 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: Graybeard58
It is a never ending search for a term that changes reality. It will never succeed. As soon as a new term such as "Challenged" or "Special", or "Gay" becomes widely used it becomes associated with the condition it describes, and becomes an insult.

The terms imbecile, idiot, mental retardation, insanity and so on are good examples as these were initially introduced as neutral terminology intended to describe specific conditions.

12 posted on 05/09/2007 10:22:22 AM PDT by joshhiggins (O you who believe! do not take the MUSLIMS for friends)
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To: andy58-in-nh

“intellectually deficient”


13 posted on 05/09/2007 10:25:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (My gerund got caught in my diphthong, and now I have a dangling participle...............)
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To: Graybeard58

Oh nuts...


14 posted on 05/09/2007 10:26:04 AM PDT by linn37 (Love your Phlebotomist)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: Owl_Eagle

He who controls the language rules the world, don’t cha’ know?

F


16 posted on 05/09/2007 10:28:25 AM PDT by Frank Sheed (Dead Ráibéad.... Lifelong Irish Papist!)
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To: Red Badger

A few chocolate chips short of a cookie.


17 posted on 05/09/2007 10:28:27 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: Graybeard58
The newest illegal:


18 posted on 05/09/2007 10:30:33 AM PDT by Dumpster Baby ("Hope somebody finds me before the rats do .....")
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To: Graybeard58

Barking moonbats at work.


19 posted on 05/09/2007 10:31:04 AM PDT by T'wit (Visitors: you come here expecting a turkey shoot, and then you find out that you are the turkey.)
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To: Graybeard58
>> Connecticut's House of Representatives voted unanimously to scrap the name of the state Department of Mental Retardation

People couldn't tell them apart.

20 posted on 05/09/2007 10:31:53 AM PDT by T'wit (Visitors: you come here expecting a turkey shoot, and then you find out that you are the turkey.)
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