The Pledge

There are a few topics that I am highly sensitive of. I don’t like talking about them much. Mostly because they’re so close to my heart that the thought of sharing them makes me nervous. Which is strange given that by not talking about them I’m only hurting myself and those around me.

One of these topics is the use of this word: retarded

I cringe just writing it. And even more so when I hear it. When I hear people use that word so carelessly without even thinking I want to hold my children in front of their faces and scream, “really?!”

A few times I’ve mustered the courage to ask them to use a different word. Most times people are shocked at themselves and that they would use the word in front of me.

This is another one of those time where I’m mustering courage to talk about something that’s hard to talk about and hard to hear.

The definition of retarded is: delayed; delayed in development

Unfortunately it has been twisted around to mean stupid, dumb, idiot or a whole slew of other words that aren’t worth my time to look up.

The definition of stupid is: lacking intelligence

I have two children, two children, who are both delayed. Nether of them can form words to communicate at the level of their peers. Both learned to walk later than their peers. There is all kinds of things they can’t do. They are delayed. That does not make them stupid or dumb. They are extremely intelligent. To me intelligence is light. And they both are full of light.

They can do all kinds of things. The Boy, for instance, knows how to lock doors. Lots of them. He knows how to turn the volume up on the TV when the ending credits start  when watching movies. Then he has a little jam session to the music. Little Miss can turn the TV on and off. She can throw loads of stuff in the garbage can when asked. She can even empty the dishwasher. Clean or dirty.

I’ve taken the pledge to help spread the word to end the word. Won’t you join me? Click the picture below to join in.