God bless you, Yaelle for the care and consideration you have shown-my 1st job after college was as a case worker for mentally retarded adults-my clients were all medium-to-high functioning and many had Down Syndrome-they were some of the nicest and most decent people I’ve known. Myself and my co-workers often brought clients from their apartments to spend holidays at our homes with our families because their own families could not be bothered with their less-than-perfect relatives and didn’t want to be seen with them. I worked there at MHMR for almost 8 years until going to work in the private sector as a case manager-and I still consider that 1st job at MHMR my favorite...
That experience is likely why it annoys me to hear someone call a person they disagree with “retard”, “retarded” etc-mental retardation is a disability-it is neither a chosen behavior, nor are retarded people circus freaks-it does not speak well of us here at FR to use retard, etc as a slur-you are disparaging people with that disability by using that as an insult-no better than the “N” word, in my opinion...
Actually, I think “retard “ is worse then the “N” word-at least that slur is only racial-where “retard” is a slur on that person’s humanity and being...
Thank you for your lovely and true post. My sons are wonderful human beings and I am so glad they are kind and decent - not like some of the “perfect” people around here.