03.07.12

Some of the people in my Microbiology class are SO strange so I just have to unwind my tension/stress/annoyance from class by reading some of my favorite blogs (which I will HAVE to do a post on...one of these days) and trying to remember that there are normal people in this world...somewhere... 

Anyways.

I was checking my Twitter and was reading the various updates of the people that I follow. One organization I follow that is and will always be near and dear to my heart is Special Olympics (which I will also have to post on). I noticed that today was March 7th, 2012. (I keep forgetting it is March already!) I also noticed that today was the day that was supposed to be recognized as the "Spread the Word to Stop the Word" campaign day.

Incase you didn't know, THE word, is the "R word." 

"Retard(ed)"

That was honestly even hard for me to type out.

Here's the deal about that word. We were NEVER allowed to say it growing up, partially for Joshua's sake and partially because my parents taught us better than that. We KNEW better. I think the only time I ever had to say something similar to it was because it was a music term that I had to learn for piano:  "ritardando."

I remember one day after coming home from school at McRae Elementary, my mom had mentioned how someone had called Joshua the "r" word at school. He cried and cried... and I'm sure my mom cried and cried when she found out about it.

It still burns me up to this day that people refer to others with that word. They have NO idea how offensive and hurtful it is to someone who has a disability or someone who has a family member or even a friend with a disability. I can't tell you how many conversations I have had with my brother about how he knows he is different and he wishes he could be like everyone else and how he wishes he didn't have Down Syndrome. It is HEART-BREAKING.

My mom ordered my brothers and I t-shirts from this site we saw last year.  They were promoting the END of using the "r" word.  Obviously I know that word is going to be used forever in many instances, but their goal is to end the negative use of that word. They do not want any human being to be referred to as a "retard" or "retarded" (again, hurting me to type) even if they have some kind of mental/physical disability.

http://www.r-word.org/  --check out this page and make a pledge!

Having an older brother who has Down Syndrome, I think I may take offense more easily than some at this word, because I have seen first-hand the hurt that it can cause. I also think that since I am so proud of my brother and make it well known that I have a brother with Down's, people may not mention certain things or say certain things in my presence, which is probably a good thing since things like this get me FIRED UP. 

Here's another little story...

My sophomore year of college at OBU, I went to an event called Kappa Late Night (or something like that) where the Kappa guys put together a few hours of comedy, skits, and musical entertainment as a fundraiser for their club/new pledges. I was with my pledge sisters and we were enjoying the jokes and laughing at the skits. All of a sudden, they announce that they are going to show some funny YouTube videos.  So the lights dimmed and the video started playing on the screen.  I automatically tensed up because the title of the video was "The Retarded Policeman." Apparently it is a series on YouTube about a guy who has Down's (he really does have it) and he is doing a comedy skit acting like a police officer. (Yes, sadly it is real and yes sadly it is "funny" to some people) It may have really been funny and the guy may have not been put up to it, he may have thought he was being funny too...but I'll never watch to find out. I think it's easy to take advantage of people who are too trusting or don't know any better...

Anyways, I obviously didn't make a big deal but I leaned over to one of my girl friends and asked if she was ready to leave.  She said yes and we ended up walking/sneaking out while everyone was watching/laughing at the video. No big deal. I didn't make a scene, I didn't say anything negative, I just left with my friend and we walked back to our dorm, chatting about the night and life in general.

I don't know how it happened so quickly (we hadn't even made it back to the dorm yet) and the next thing I know is my phone is ringing and buzzing with calls and texts from some of my friends and some unknown numbers. She was also getting calls right and left. People were calling and texting us freaking out. Some must have thought I was so offended that I left and others thought I was really upset over that video. After trying to calm everyone down and letting everyone know that the reason I left was because I was just ready to go, not because I was so offended that I had to leave right then.  I just took that video as my "sign" that I should just go. (The show was almost over anyways) I even had a handful of Kappas, some I didn't even know well, call me and apologize. I appreciated their concern but I really wasn't upset with them, their club, or with anyone in general. (Just fyi- totally not bashing this club in any way and the ones involved would know that)  After everyone calmed down, they realized that it was a big misunderstanding.

BUT, it is good to know that people do care and people do take notice. Obviously I wasn't upset that much by the video (everyone watches stupid YouTube videos in college) but I got a lot of sincere apologies, some by people that I barely knew and I appreciated them. Not really for my sake, but mainly because I'm sure that there are people like me out there that deserve apologies like that for things that actually matter and were actually offensive or hurtful.

All this to say, I guess you never really know who is watching and how something you do or say is going to affect them.  You should always watch what you say because words can hurt. Even if they don't necessarily bother you, they could devastate someone else.

That's all for today!

Holly