So we’ve all heard of the “F” word, the “B” word and the “N” word. Well what about the “R” word?

That’s right–“retarded.” How many times a day do you use it?

We have all heard of the campaign “Spread the word to end the word,” but is it just politically correct jargon or is there real meaning, real hurt and real history behind this word?

I used to think it was the first. I used to dismiss campaigns to end the “R” word, lumping it into the same category as terms like “hard of hearing.”

However, as a special education major, I have realized that there is no difference between saying retarded and blurting out any other slur.

I do understand that when people say “retarded” they do not actually mean it; however, the word is always used in a negative context further emphasizing the misconception that having a disability is a negative thing.

When was the last time you heard someone say, “Yo this banana is so delicious it’s retarded” or “That class was so interesting. It was retarded.”

Never. Am I right?

Disability is not negative as society deems it. There are many people living with disabilities that live normal, happy lives well, at least until society gets in the way.

Gaylen Kapperman, a professor in the Department of Special and Early Education, said his blindness greatly affects people’s attitudes towards him.

“Sighted people won’t talk to me,” he said. “I don’t know why, but it happens a lot. Some sighted individuals who are very outgoing are very comfortable around blind people but they are very rare individuals.”

And of course Kapperman is not the only one on campus with a disability. In fact, there are people with disabilities everywhere you look.

Yet, people are still uncomfortable dealing with disability. Why is that? I don’t have an answer for you, but the fact is that most people who encounter disability don’t know what to do.

Joseph Shapiro, a writer for U.S. News & World Report, writes in his book, No Pity: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement, that people without disabilities will have one of two reactions when dealing with people who do have them: They will either have pity the person or they will deem the individual an inspiration to the rest of us.

However, what people fail to realize is that people with disabilities aren’t to be pitied nor automatically looked at for inspiration. They are the same as everybody else. People with disabilities live perfectly normal lives, just differently.

Living with a disability is not a bad thing, there are millions of people that live every day with a disability. Should they be pitied? Should they be disgraced? Should they be plagued with the continued use of the word “retarded?”

When somebody uses a racial slur, society will dismiss this person as offensive; however, when the “R” word is thrown around in conversation, there is no consequence. We will all be disabled one day as we approach old age. Whether we lose sight, mind or hearing, it will happen to each and every one of us. Let me ask you this: When that day comes, will you still use the word “retarded?”