Language matters

It's official: the term "mental retardation" has been cast aside. Here's the press release from the Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities announcing that its journal is being renamed. The change comes amid concerns that the term "retarded" is widely used as an insult and can rob individuals of their dignity.

From the AAIDD press release:

"After almost five decades of being called Mental Retardation, this influential journal in special education changed names to Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities under the leadership of Editor Steven J. Taylor. The journal's name change is a microcosm of society's ongoing struggle to find a socially acceptable way of addressing persons with an intellectual disability.

"The new name comes close on the heels of the name change of its publisher, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, formerly AAMR, the world's oldest organization representing professionals in developmental disabilities. For all those who ask, 'What's in a name?' Dr. Taylor says, 'The term intellectual and developmental disabilities is simply less stigmatizing than mental retardation, mental deficiency, feeble- mindedness, idiocy, imbecility, and other terminology we have cast aside over the years.'

The release goes on to quote AAID vice president Steve Eidelman calling for a public awareness campaign to promote positive images of people with intellectual disabilities. His words:

"Without a long-term effort to include everyone and to educate those with negative or neutral attitudes toward our constituents, a change in terminology will become the new pejorative very quickly."