Students Take Stand On ‘R’ Word

Campaign, started by Special Olympics, asks students to sign pledge

Mia Bautista, left, and Jonathan Main, Fayetteville High School seniors, sign Wednesday a pledge to stop using the word “retarded” while taking part in a national campaign organized by Special Olympics and backed at the school by the Bulldog Partners Club in the Bulldog Lobby at the school.
Mia Bautista, left, and Jonathan Main, Fayetteville High School seniors, sign Wednesday a pledge to stop using the word “retarded” while taking part in a national campaign organized by Special Olympics and backed at the school by the Bulldog Partners Club in the Bulldog Lobby at the school.

— Some students at Fayetteville High School want to stop the use of the word “retarded” in casual conversation.

It’s offensive, hurtful and degrading, especially to students challenged by mental or developmental disabilities, they said.

At A Glance

Awareness Campaign

The Spread the Word to End the Word campaign raises awareness about using the word “retarded” to refer to an action as less than ideal. The casual usage can make someone with an intellectual disability feel less than human, even if not meant to be offensive. Read more about this campaign, started by Special Olympics athletes, at r-word.org.

Source: r-word.org

A student organization, The Bulldog Partners Club, is asking students to sign a pledge not to use what they call the “r” word. The campaign is part of a national Stop Using the R-Word campaign, backed by Special Olympics.

Mia Bautista, 17, said she learned about the campaign during a pep rally last week and decided to get involved.

“This is a good time to take a stand,” she said. “The word is unnecessary, rude and sometimes cruel.”

The Partners Club started this year as a way to integrate special needs students with the rest of the school. It’s the first such club in Arkansas, said Mikayla Ogle, 17, one of the group’s founders.

Ogle said the club has created a large banner nearly filled with signatures of students pledging not to use the word.

“I’ve had students tell me they are really trying to check themselves when they talk,” Ogle said. The club may extend the campaign into next week because of the support they have received.

Club members spend several hours a week eating lunch or playing games with students in the structured learning classroom. Some special needs students work with club members collecting recyclables around the building.

Some students served as mentors at the Special Olympics games last school year and will do so again.

The club organized in October with 20 members, five of whom are from the special needs classroom. Ashton Killion, 17, said some 150 students expressed interest in the club, which was narrowed to 15.

Killion said she didn’t think students used the word intentionally to be mean but using the word is offensive.

“It seems like a bad word. We need to eliminate that,” she said.

Brittany Hoskins, 18, another of the club’s organizers, said, “It’s becoming a curse word to me.”

Donna Kilmer of Bentonville, a field representative for Special Olympics, said the campaign originated with Special Olympics athletes who found the use of the word hurtful and decided to take a stand to educate students and adults about their feelings.

“Our ultimate goals for the Partners Club is to encourage them to interact and be a part of the lives of our Special Olympics athletes and all disabled students in their school and in life,” Kilmer said. Disabled students have the same feelings, dreams and goals as other students, she said.

“Everyone deserves a chance to be treated equally,” Ogle said.

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