As a future educator, I seem to hear this phrase more and more and can’t help but think “do these people even know what this word means? Are they aware that it’s not the proper way to describe someone who is Special Ed or has a mental disorder that they cannot control?”

“Oh, he doesn’t know any better because he’s retarded.”

According to dictionary.com, this is the definition of retarded:

Retarded:less advanced in mental, physical, or social development than is usual for one’s age.

And that’s just in the formal sense.

The “r” word has also taken on a negative connotation as well. Most kids my age or younger tend to use it as an insult towards one another.

“Are you retarded?”

I just hear that and it makes me cringe. However, I’m not going to deny that I used that word all the time in middle school when I thought it was cool to talk like that. You never really realize what words mean until you look back and think “Did I really talk like that?” I used it in the negative connotation, joking around with my friends and calling each other names when we did something stupid.

But that’s just it.

We used it in replace of the word “stupid.” Did this indicate that we thought people who were considered “retarded” in society to be stupid? Did this mean we thought they were incapable of full thoughts and emotions? I tried not to use it as much in high school and tried to stray away from using it as an insult or using it in my everyday speech.

I did, however, still described those who were considered some type of special ed to be “retarded” or have mental retardation. I tried to make it sound like I knew what I was talking about and that this was the correct way to address someone with these conditions. I didn't know that not only was it insulting my friends, it was also insulting those individuals who were often described as such.

Upon entering college, I thought that I would be prepped in some way during my teaching courses on how to properly address students with these conditions. Turns out, you would have to add some kind of add on to your major or minor to be able to learn more about these conditions.

As for the general teaching courses, they barely touch on what to do with a child with special needs, autism, or anything of the sort. How is this supposed to prepare us to be proper teachers in the high school setting? Are we expected to send them off? To ignore them? What about teachers that get easily frustrated?

It breaks my heart to see teachers just send those kids away so they won't have to deal with them. How can you be a teacher, but only want to deal with a select few kids, mainly the ones they deem "normal" (what a stupid word).

However, these are all questions that we need to ask ourselves. How are we going to choose to deal with these individuals? Are we going to turn away from them and choose to make them feel like they aren't actually part of society, or will we welcome them willingly?

There is nothing wrong or bad about them, they just have one extra chromosome, and I think that's pretty dang special.