They gathered together on the steps of the Hall of Languages. Some remained in wheelchairs. Others stood alone. More wandered nearby passing out flyers.

The group came together Tuesday to battle something they all share. Something hurtful. Something all together too common: the use of the word ‘retard’ in casual conversation.

Members of the Self-Advocacy Network, a Syracuse group organized by people with disabilities, gathered at the hub of campus in a demonstration Tuesday morning to ‘Spread the Word to End the Word.’ The slogan is the title of an international demonstration that took place Tuesday to end the use of the word ‘retard’ as a minority slur. The group dubbed Tuesday National Awareness Day to coincide with the rallies.

The campaign calls for people to take a pledge to stop saying the ‘R-word,’ as they call it, and to bring awareness to its hurtful effects, said Dan Flanigan, regional coordinator of Central New York’s Self Advocacy Association, a not-for-profit, grassroots organization run by those with disabilities and those who support them.

‘It’s hurtful that the R-word is used so casually in everyday life,’ Flanigan said. ‘You see it in TV shows, in magazines and in articles, unfortunately.’

Soeren Palumbo, a University of Notre Dame student, and Timothy Shriver, a Yale University student, spearheaded the movement. Athletes from the Special Olympics took part in the international demonstration as well. Celebrity activist John McGinley, the actor who plays Perry Cox on ‘Scrubs,’ is the spokesperson for the ‘Spread the Word’ campaign.

Samantha LaRocque, president of Self-Advocacy Network in Syracuse, said the approximately 20 members in attendance were like ‘one big family.’

‘We’re out here to spread the word to end the word,’ she said. ‘I figure the R-word is a nasty word, and we want to change that.’

The campaign on campus Tuesday was not meant to target or blame the college demographic, Flanigan said. But the group held the protest at SU because he thinks colleges are a good place to help get the word out.

The release of ‘Tropic Thunder’, a 2008 action satire comedy film starring Ben Stiller, fueled controversy over use of the word. It featured slogans such as, ‘Once upon a time there was a retard’ and ‘Never go full retard.’ The movie’s release prompted the creation of the National Awareness Day, Flanigan said.

Shriver, a Yale student and chairman of Special Olympics for the past 11 years, spoke out against the film in August 2008 for its use of the prolific slur. He advised audiences to avoid the film and called on director Ben Stiller to keep the film out of theaters. ‘Tropic Thunder’ uses the word ‘retard’ 17 times.

‘When the R-word is casually bandied about and when bumbling, clueless caricatures designed to mimic the behavior of people with intellectual disabilities are on screen, they have an unmistakable outcome: They mock, directly or indirectly, people with intellectual disabilities,’ Shriver wrote in a 2008 CNN commentary.

It meant a lot for Youngoh Jung, a research fellow in SU’s Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies, to be at Tuesday’s protest. She got there early and was happy to witness students stop and listen to what the demonstrators had to say.

‘People are actually listening to what we have to say,’ Jung said. ‘We’re trying to spread the word to stop using ‘retarded’ in every day language. People are still using it without really thinking when they do.’

Helen Horn, a protester who has worked with the Self-Advocacy Network for 15 years, said she just wants people to stop using the word. It makes her and others feel uncomfortable, she said.

‘People keep saying it over and over, until it hurts somebody’s feelings,’ she said. ‘Respect people with developmental disabilities.’

blbump@syr.edu

Published on March 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm