New York cancels use of "mentally ret*d" as official term

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Gov. Hochul signs bill dropping ‘mentally ret*d’ from state use

They probably should have done that 30 years ago…”mentally ret*d” was outdated even then.

Mentally ret*d is, at best, a description of a symptom, and a vague one at that. Are you saying that someone appears dumber than some certain arbitrary cutoff point beyond which we move from regular stupidity to something pathological? Do we know why that is the case? And why not just use the term "cognitive impairment?"

At worst, it is a slur.

I don't want to be language police, but yeah, some people find the word ret*d offensive. And while I say my fair share of offensive words when not trying to impress others, I see no need for my foul language to have medical legitimacy. Quite the contrary.

Regarding the JRC, yeah they are the worst. But regarding ABA, I recently saw a Temple Grandin article that said that ABA can be useful, but it really comes down to the quality and correct application.https://www.templegrandin.com/faq.html

I don’t like the term “mentally ret*d.” It’s used as an insult and is, technically, a slur these days. I prefer the term “intellectually disabled” and use it in my work (special education teacher).

I had a friend with Down’s Syndrome as I was growing up who was bullied by other kids with that word. It’s hard for me to hear it without cringeing. It was hard for him, too.

Since English is a living language, acceptable words can evolve to mean something else. That’s what happened with the R word.

Put it this way, I wouldn't like to be called mentally ret*d so I would certainly not use the term to describe other people.

“ret*d” was a favorite insult heaped upon me.

I started a thread about banning the r-word a few years ago and was informed by some members that I was impinging on people's personal freedoms

It would seem younger higher functioning members in WP claimed they had the right to use the r-word

Not sure where those people are now?

"Mentally ret*d" is not the correct term for somebody with "intellectual disability"----whether one is "woke" or not "woke." And it hasn't been for quite a long time.

Just because "idiot" was an official medical term back in the 1920s----doesn't mean it's a correct term nowadays (obviously!). Language evolves.

There are words that had been used to for races and women which were, at one point, perfectly acceptable. When the words turned into slurs, we, rightfully, stopped using them, except for…certain types of people.

For government, medical and official use it makes sense. Depends on the context though. Outside of formal settings it's still mostly acceptable.

I call one guy in work the "R" word all the time along with "Degenerate". He always tries to counter with his own colourful vocabulary and sometimes wins.

If a word used as a diagnosis becomes scientifically inaccurate I have no objection to changing the term. “Mental Retardation” if used literally is not less accurate then “Intellectual Disability”. “Manic Depression” is more accurate then bi polar which sounds like a meteorological term.

First it was imbecile and idiot were medical terms, then they became insults, so the diagnosis was changed to ret*d, then when that became an insult, the diagnosis was changed to intellectual disability. How long until intellectual disability is dropped because it becomes an insult?. What is happening here is that we are letting bullies define language for us. This really rubs me the wrong way. It is never going to end unless we put a stop to it. It can be done. “Queer” was a slur that is a descriptor today because that community said enough.