State Seeks An End To 'R-Word'

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Carcieri is joining forces with the Special Olympics and Best Buddies to ban the word “retard” from everyday speech.
Declaring March 3 to be “Spread the Word to End the Word Day,” Carcieri said the “R-word” is “routinely used to insult people, particularly those with intellectual and developmental disabilities” and should be eliminated from everyday vocabulary.“This is about more than changing a word,” Carcieri, whose late sister had Down syndrome, said in a news release. “It is about changing attitudes toward almost 200 million people in the world who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.”