• Less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one's age.

Offensive. Dated.

Those are words straight out of the dictionary.

If you are someone who does not have a personal relationship with an individual who was born with an intellectual delay, I can say, in all honesty, that I feel sorry for you. I have been blessed with a number of people in my life who were born with varying degrees of different abilities, and they bring more joy to my life than I could ever explain.

It seemed that 2016 was the year to be offended by, quite literally, everything. The trend seems to have become a societal norm and is continuing in 2017. I listened to people rant and rave about the pettiest things. Everything from elections to coloring books, gender labels to bathrooms. Those same people, with the same social media platforms, cannot be bothered to do away with one, hateful word. If you can stand up for the rights of pit-bulls, spend hours watching a pregnant giraffe, organize and participate in marches and sit-ins...how much more difficult would it be to broaden your vocabulary?

I have a theory about this word. I believe that people with intellectual delays are some of the most loving, caring, kind people you will ever meet. I think that people know that they will remain silent when faced with insults and demeaning names. For this reason, society has been negligent, at best, when it comes to protecting their feelings and bolstering their self-esteem.

Well, we need to stand up for them and change that.

Maybe you need some help getting started, so here are 100 words you can use in place of the R-word:

1. Absurd
2. Airhead
3. Birdbrained
4. Blockhead
5. Boob
6. Bozo
7. Brainless
8. Buffoon
9. Butthead
10. Childish
11. Chowderhead
12. Chump
13. Clown
14. Cluck
15. Clueless
16. Comic
17. Crazy
18. Daft
19. Dense
20. Dim
21. Dimwit
22. Dingbat
23. Dipstick
24. Dolt
25. Doofus
26. Dopey
27. Dull
28. Dullard
29. Dumb
30. Dumbo
31. Dumdum
32. Dummy
33. Dunderhead
34. Dupe
35. Empty-headed
36. Farcical
37. Fatuous
38. Fool
39. Foolhardy
40. Foolish
41. Futile
42. Goober
43. Goof
44. Goofball
45. Goofus
46. Goofy
47. Goon
48. Gullible
49. Half-baked
50. Halfwit
51. Hare-brained
52. Hoser
53. Idiotic
54. Ignoramus
55. Ignorant
56. Ill-advised
57. Illogical
58. Imbecile
59. Immature
60. Impractical
61. Imprudent
62. Inane
63. Irrational
64. Jejune
65. Jerk
66. Laughable
67. Ludicrous
68. Lummox
69. Meatball
70. Naïve
71. Nincompoop
72. Ninny
73. Nitwit
74. Numbskull
75. Pea-brained
76. Pointless
77. Rash
78. Reckless
79. Ridiculous
80. Sap
81. Schmuck
82. Scissorbill
83. Senseless
84. Silly
85. Simpleton
86. Sophomoric
87. Strange
88. Stupid
89. Sucker
90. Thickhead
91. Thoughtless
92. Trivial
93. Turkey
94. Twerp
95. Uninformed
96. Unintelligent
97. Unreasonable
98. Useless
99. Vacuous
100. Worthless

You don't even need a dictionary, I helped you out with that.

So, today I challenge you. Learn one of these words. You don't need to learn all 100, it only takes one word to change the world. Let that change begin with you.