The adjective “retarded” appeared in a headline on the front page of the Star Tribune last week, prompting complaints from dozens of readers who find the word to be hurtful, insensitive and out of date. They argued thoughtfully and passionately for alternatives such as “mentally challenged,” “developmentally disabled” and “cognitively delayed.”
You’re probably familiar with these terms and their predecessors. “Retard” and “retarded” were used as schoolyard taunts when I was in grade school in the 1960s, not too long after “mentally retarded” gained favor as the latest enlightened replacement for “idiot,” “moron,” “mongoloid” and “feeble-minded,” terms once widely used in academic and treatment circles.
About 20 years ago, parents, educators and support groups began distancing themselves from “mentally retarded.” You may remember the Association for Retarded Citizens. Since 1992, it’s been Arc of the United States. The American Association on Mental Retardation changed its name to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities just two years ago.
The Star Tribune newsroom’s stylebook governs our use of terms such as “handicapped” and “developmental disability.” Here’s the entry on mental retardation, last reviewed in the late 1990s:
retarded, mentally retarded Use these terms rather than “developmentally disabled,” a hard-to-understand euphemism.
Looks like it’s time for us to update the entry. We’re leaning toward the approach adopted by the Associated Press less than two years ago:
mentally disabled The preferred term for mentally retarded.
Any of the new terms offered, including AP’s, is just as likely to become a schoolyard epithet as any previous term. We’ll meet you back here in 10 years to discuss the latest taint-free options. Meantime, here’s a heartbreaking New York Times story from 1886, rife with unintentionally hurtful and insensitive terminology. Brace yourself, dear reader.
EIGHT IMBECILE CHILDREN
DEPLORABLE RESULT OF THE MARRIAGE OF
COUSINS OF THE FIRST DEGREE.
From the Philadelphia Record, April 21.
The most pitiable case that has yet come under the notice of the Lunacy Committee was discovered last week in Fountaindale, Adams County, where Jacob Miller, a wealthy farmer, was found living with his eight imbecile children.
The mother of this miserable family had died several years ago insane, her reason having given way under the terrible strain to which she had been subjected. The poor woman had given birth to 11 children between 1860 and 1874, and not one of her numerous offspring was possessed of a sound mind. Nine children are still living, one daughter, possessed of a limited amount of intelligence, having been married.
The remaining eight are cared for by their father in his home, which was in a most deplorable condition when Secretary Ourt and a member of the committee visited the place. Five of the children are driveling idiots, past all hope of improvement, while the other three are somewhat brighter. The oldest child is the worst of all, scarcely possessing the instincts of an animal. He sits at a window all day long, and from the constant swaying of his body has worn a hole in the windowsill where his head touches the woodwork.
Mr. Miller expressed a deep affection for his unfortunate children. He said they were fed well and seemed happy, though he was not able to keep them well clothed on account of their filthy habits. It was learned that Mr. And Mrs. Miller were blood cousins of the first degree, and to this fact alone the members of the committee attributed the imbecility of their offspring. The father, however, had no explanation for the matter, and he looked upon the affliction as a stroke of Providence.
A singular phase of the affair is that the committee can find no legal way of reaching the case. Two daughters, 12 and 14 years of age, respectively, and one of the sons are capable of improvement if placed in a proper institution, such as the Media Training School, but as Mr. Miller is well to do, owning 200 acres of land, and the children not insane, the committee cannot invoke the insanity laws nor make the children a State charge, The matter was laid before the Society to Protect Children from Cruelty, but after a consultation of the officers with their solicitor it was found that the society could not interfere, and there is no provision in the law by which it can take charge of imbecile children.
Dr. Ourt said yesterday: “This is the most deplorable case that has ever come under my notice. The father does not seem to comprehend his responsibility. Three of the boys are able to work on the farm, and as long as the physical wants of the children are satisfied Mr. Miller is contented. When I asked what would become of these children when he died he answered that he had not thought of such a contingency. The married daughter has two children whose minds are also said to be weak, and I tremble for the consequences when the other two daughters grow older.”
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| An aerial view of Minnesota’s Anoka State Hospital in 1937. The facility, which opened in 1900, was once home to hundreds of residents with mental disabilities. It’s now known as the Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center, serving patients with severe mental illness and chemical dependency problems. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org) |
