In my never ending quest to spread Autism Awareness and advocate for special needs parents I have started something that I NEED ALL your help with. I have made my feeling pretty clear about the use of the word “retard” to describe special needs children or other persons with special needs. I’m not going to go into all the reasons why I think this word is degrading,offensive, ignorant and inaccurate. You can read my original post here. Some of the responses I have received disturbed me a bit. Several people have suggested that because it is still a “medical” term then it’s “ok” to use. I disagree completely. I think that it’s outdated and inaccurate and we need to remove that word from medical terminology as well. There are many other words to describe persons with special needs, “retard” no longer needs to be one of them. In the state of Ohio they changed MRDD to DD this past year because it was the right thing to do. My goal is to continue pushing for that. As well as educating people about the impact that word can have on someone.
I can’t explain the heartbreak I feel when people call my children “retarded”. Maybe you have never had to experience that but I promise you it’s not something you want to experience. I don’t want ANY special needs parent to EVER have to explain to their child what that word means. It’s not right and we are better then that.
So I need your help to spread the word. I started a Facebook cause and a Facebook page to gather supporters. Please join the cause and “like” the page. Please share and retweet this post as well. Our kids deserve better then this. I realize that this may be an impossible task. But I want to be able to look my kids in the eyes and know that I tried anyways. Don’t you want to be able to do the same?
Again here are the links:
My heart goes out to you 100 x over.
I'm sure you have received a lot of advice from well-meaning strangers online & off.
I can say I only have experienced a taste of what your life must be like day to day.
My Grandson started showing signs by the age of 3. Things only got worst, he had a lot of rage. By 4 1/2 most of his days were filled with meltdowns. There is so much more to this story but I just want to get to the part where we found help.
The first thing my daughter in law found were artificial colors. Removing them helped so much with the mindless hyperactivity . We still needed more help.
I can't tell you what his pre k school days were like but right before he turned 5 another mother at his school led my daughter in law to a Homeopathic Dr. who specialized in treating children with special needs.
The first day of taking a couple homeopathic remedies we heard his sweet voice. It was a sound I will never forget.
I know no two children are the same when it comes to special needs but please, I beg you, if you have never looked into this to do it now.
The quality of all our lives improved 100% but mostly his life is what matters.
The homeopathic Dr. was very reasonable in price & more than willing to work with us. The remedies she prescribed we can buy online for penny's a day.
Please Google Homeopathy/Autism/ADHD etc.
I don't want to take up anymore of your time but I felt a real need to share with you the miracle that was worked in my family's life.
May God Bless you on your journey in this life.
Peace
Love your work and I bet you will make a difference…lots of things bug me about this disability Gig like my adult son not being allow in the community college library when he is supposed to be doing his post secondary education (the special ed students are only allow in a few classes like yoga, weight training, the pool and their special ed room. The battles are many~
and what is used most is the word 'Tard by the typical population and I'm not the only one who will get up in someone's space and make that moment a teachable moment.
and just cause we are saying what is messed up about the world…those little thumbs up and thumbs down are offensive too…and I expect some thumbs down after this comment..don't make them worthy~like the word retarded is not worthy~
Thanks jon but I need you to follow the links and join the cause and like the fan page