The phrase "mental retardation" was originally used as a clinical term to describe someone with a low average IQ but since then, people have taken the word "retard(ed)" and have begun using it as a derogatory slang word.

Since then, the phrase "mental retardation" is no longer medically correct and the new correct term is "intellectual disability" which is just one reason that we should stop saying the r-word. Many campaigns have been launched to fight against people who don't see the problem with this word such as "Spread the Word to End the Word" who lets people share their experience with this word and why they think it should no longer be used.

The word “retard(ed)" has been used widely in today’s society to degrade and insult people with an intellectual disability. When “retard(ed)" is used as a synonym for “dumb” or “stupid” by people without disabilities, it only reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities being less valued members of humanity but that is anything but true.

On October 5, 2010, former President, Barack Obama officially signed bill S. 2781 into federal law. Rosa’s Law, which takes its name and inspiration for 9-year-old Rosa Marcellino, removes the terms "mentally retarded" from federal health, education and labor policy and replaces them with the phrase “individual with an intellectual disability”.

The signing of Rosa’s Law is a significant milestone in establishing dignity, inclusion, and respect for all people with intellectual disabilities.

Many people who disagree with these campaigns fight back by saying that the word is not used to insult anyone with an intellectual disability but even when the r-word is not said to harm someone with a disability, it is still hurtful.

Overall, it's not hard to make the initiative to remove a single hurtful word from your vocabulary. By removing the r-word, you can relieve a lot of hurt from people's lives who have a lot more troubles than the rest of us but are still pushing on the best they can.

By joining the campaign and pledging to stop using the r-word, we are making progress on removing a hateful slang word from our vocabulary and work on including people with intellectual disabilities because they are no different than us. That is why I have taken the pledge to support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.