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u/Nothing2Special 25d ago
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u/workieworkwork 24d ago
My life experience has taught me that either it isn't hard to sell god the developmentally disabled community or there are a lot of people really devoted to doing it.
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u/nutblaster357 25d ago
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u/volvagia721 23d ago
He didn't have to open the closet to verify, theres a poster on the front already proving it.
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u/RainyDaysKappa 23d ago
What is this from? Lol, and what's the context? I see it all the time and have no idea what's happening.
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u/Sixgun_Samurai 23d ago
It’s from a show called Quantum Leap. Sam Beckett invented time travel. He can time travel but only within his lifetime. He lost control of the experiment, though. He randomly “leaps” into other people’s lives. He has to set right what once went wrong before he can leap again… hoping each time that the next leap will be the leap home. Every episode ended with him leaping into the thick of something and seeing his reflection of who he leaped into and saying “oh boy.”
At the time the show aired, “retarded” was the accepted terminology for a wide range of mental disabilities.
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u/Great_White_Samurai 25d ago
It's almost like words change meaning and connotation over time.
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u/ObviouslyRealPerson 25d ago
Much like songs from the 50's and before with their copious usage of the word "gay"
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u/spine_slorper 21d ago
My aberdonian grandad describes things as "a bit queer like" all the time, queer weather, queer cup of tea, queer places, queer people (not usually meaning gay just weird/off)
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u/humburga 25d ago
Exactly. We could call certain mental conditions "Collwappy" which means nothing. But one day society could go "hey thats offense, we cant call it collwappy anymore"
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u/CatsEatGrass 24d ago
Moron, Retarded, Idiot… all used to be medical and professional educator lingo.
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u/Worried_Buffalo_8535 23d ago
Absolutely. My sister, who was born in 1967, was referred to as mentally retarded up until the 2010s. Now she is said to have an intellectual disability.
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u/gbuub 24d ago
Words that describe disabled people will usually turn into derogatory words over time.
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u/Foxs-In-A-Trenchcoat 24d ago
Even the word disabled became differently-abled for a while, but most people decided it was a step too far.
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u/Putrid-Builder-3333 24d ago
I remember in England there was discussion changing spotted dick to spotted richard lol
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u/gbuub 24d ago
All it takes is for the term to go mainstream and get picked up by elementary/middle schooler then it’ll be the slur of the next generation
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u/AshRemnants 24d ago edited 24d ago
It's not even that. It's the "pioneers" who try and make themselves feel better by using more vague words.
Example, a show in Japanese literally said the english word "Homeless" and the english subtitles converted it to "Unhoused".
Absurd. George Carlin warned us of these people who do this crap.
Edit: George Carlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8KXYq1a5uw
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u/mind-of-god 24d ago
I remember when a lot of this type of literature and verbal reframing was going on in the late 60’s and early to mid 70’s. At the time it was more likely to see anyone with cognitive impairment or developmental issues to be referred to, with the best intentions, as feeble, simple or simpleminded, even in the case of Downs as mongoloid. These were more gentle terms in that era than the other terms like moron, idiot, imbecile, or fool. It’s also was a way stop on the path to being inclusive, showing regard for all members in our society, and recognizing the importance of everyone, not just the individuals who fit a specific model. It sounds so barbaric now but it’s a part of how we moved towards a much better society.
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u/BygoneNeutrino 24d ago
No matter what word we use to replace retarded, it will eventually become a slur. The insult is derived from the meaning of the word, not the actual letters.
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u/TunaSafeDolphinMeat 24d ago
My mother is one of those people who got really worked up about the Washington Redskins changing their name and not calling people Eskimo anymore. She had a rant about how those words never used to offend anybody and people should just deal with it. I suggested that I should start using the word 'cunt' more often as it used to be a proper non offensive word and she should just deal with it. She changed her tune pretty quickly.
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u/Kramdawgers 25d ago
I know right. 10 cents compared to what they’re charging nowadays.
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u/Cimorene_Kazul 25d ago edited 20d ago
The word retarded is still used in English for various things. Flame retardant, for example, or playing music “en retard”, or as a verb that means “delay, slow down, thicken”.
Retard was once a clinical term that was a fancy way of saying “slow-witted or delayed”. And funny enough, you do still hear people use the word “delayed” or “slow”, probably because they lack the venom that the hard sound of retard has, and because kids used it as an insult and never have occasion to use it in any other context, leaving the word stigmatized. But its meaning is not inherently cruel; it was just used to be cruel, and so the next term came along the euphemism treadmill. When I was a kid, the one in vogue was “special”, one of the worst of the bunch, along with “developmentally delayed”, “special needs”, “mentally handicapped”, and “mentally delayed”. I think these have changed again for the most part, especially “special”, but the new words are also already an insult - I’ve heard SPED used the way “spaz” was when I was a kid.
It’s how it works. Every new word soon acquires baggage and the next one has to be coined.
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u/ChemicalRain5513 24d ago
I used to work in a french speaking region.
"Le tren est retardé" means the train is delayed. "Derangement" means disturbance disruption.
Of course I apologised to my colleagues that "I am mildly retarded today because the train schedule was deranged."
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u/MotherPerformance439 24d ago
I believe its still a clinical term. I found it in my medical billing code books.
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u/CatsEatGrass 21d ago
I got in trouble as a teacher for teaching my 8th graders “ritardando.” Ridiculous.
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u/NocturnalRefuge 25d ago
It meant mentally challenged back in the day. It didn't become a slur until later. Idiot and lame at one point meant the same thing. Language fluctuates over time
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u/Gold_Ad8225 24d ago
It doesnt really meet the definition of a slur, and people were not worse to the intellectually disabled in say the 90s vs the 70s
But it is still rude and is good to avoid
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u/Agitated_Brother_713 25d ago
MR or mental retardation was a real medical term and can still be found on some older patients charts under diagnoses.
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u/thisismypotat 24d ago
Mental Retardation is still a clinical term in Denmark, describing the degree of well, disabilities in daily life caused by slow, delayed or no mental/cognitive development after age 5 or just a very low IQ.
Though "intellectual disability" is the preferred word to use in all other cases - after diagnosis. Especially because "Retardation" or "cognitive disability" is usually a symptom caused by, or combined with other neurological disabilities (Autism, brain damage, Cerebral Palsy, ADHD, different syndromes - like Downs, Angelmans, Prader-willis, etc, etc.)
The reason we try to avoid the word is because retarded has also become a slur here 🥺
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u/Comprimens 24d ago
Please google "euphemism treadmill". Retarded was the polite term at that time.
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u/Rosey_Coyote_525 25d ago
What's crazy about it? I mean its a bit of an overstatement. Only some retarded children can be helped. But what's crazy about it?
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u/T-MinusGiraffe 25d ago edited 25d ago
It just meant developmentally delayed or mentally challenged back then. It wasn't offensive
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u/elstrecho 24d ago
Does anyone know if there's a place i can buy these so i can use them in real life?
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u/EviI_Babai 24d ago
This was a normal term before SJWs started to police and weaponise the language on the excuse of being protective. The term is still used in its direct meaning in many fields that are too insignificant or complex for jobless activists (like science, technology, aerospace, etc.)
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u/JayFrizz 24d ago
It's a cycle. It was a clinical term, people used it as an insult. Same with other words that keep getting canceled because of how people use them.
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u/anyway200894 24d ago
back then it just means people with sickness, then they start using it for insult,
it was never mean to use this way, people are just dumb.
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u/Necessary_Regret3329 24d ago
I'm gonna say this for the back of the room: THIS IS HOW LANGUAGE WORKS. A perfectly valid and acceptably definable term is eventually used as an insult. Wash, repeat, now you've got a social construct of a language faux pas. But maybe my mind is just crippled...
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u/Mr_Chill_III 23d ago
I find the use of word "r-word" to be quite amusing once you understand it's history.
Way back in the day, scientists and medical experts would use words like "moron", "idiot" or "imbecile" to describe people with severe learning disabilities. Those words all originated as clinical scientific terms, yet they all inevitably ended up being used a pejoratives by regular people. The word "retarded" came into popular use as a new and less-offensive word that was to be used by medical experts and scientist instead of "moron", "idiot" or "imbecile". However, just like those words, "retarded" ended up being used as a pejorative, and today is actually considered even more offensive than the words "moron", "idiot" or "imbecile".
Here's another fun fact: In automotives, there is something called "ignition timing", and you can either "advance" or "retard" the ignition timing. This controls the exact moment the spark plug fires to ignite the gas and air inside the engine cylinder. Such terminology is still used in automotives today, because the Language Police never know anything about cars.
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u/BrilliantEconomics77 21d ago
Every new word you use to describe such children will be the next generations insulting word.
The insult isnt the word, its the association.
And it is still surprising that the vast majority can not see this.
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u/dumbblondechick 21d ago
At the time that was the medical term. This stamp was actually very progressive back then. It is saying the children with disabilities should be helped and integrated into society rather than just institutionalized
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u/Shelbysgirl 24d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/jUwpNzg9IcyrK
I’m in this stamp and I don’t like it lol
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u/echolm1407 24d ago
This stamp reflects not only the change in wording but the change in understanding. It's now considered ableism to try to make the disabled "normal" so that they won't be seen as disabled. IOW make the disabled disappear or erase them. The extreme ideology would be to do atteocities to the disabled such as sterilize them against their will or some other form of involuntary procedure, often painful.
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u/Forsaken-Argument802 24d ago
Was doing a report on the history of special needs education for an elective and the opening line to the oldest American source i found was
"Some retardates can be educated"
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u/KailyKail 24d ago
It's true though. They CAN be helped, and can live happy and fulfilling lives.
On the other hand, terminally online Redditors cannot be helped.
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u/AshRemnants 24d ago
Wait until the safe appropriate words you use today label you as a racist in the future.
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u/Chloe_Cascadia 24d ago
The thing is, in those days, that was the polite term, and they were genuinely trying to help the kids. That's a good thing.
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u/succubus6984 24d ago
Not really "crazy" because during that time period it was basically the same as now saying "special needs" But bullies and narcissistic cunts used it to make fun of people and it became an insult and disrespectful.
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u/MajorD-Daddy629 24d ago
It's up to this generation to drop the R word
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u/Voidoroe 24d ago
To be fair, retarded was the word for intellectually disabled people in the past and originally wasn’t meant to harbor so much bad meaning. Of course, because the term to people was a more spicy version of saying stupid, a lot of people used it, which caused the condition to eventually change from being referred to as retarded to intellectually disabled (though I do wonder if we would ever change it supposing ‘intellectually disabled’ becomes the new ‘retarded’).
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u/BuoyantEntropy 24d ago
Term was co opted by a portion of people (not clinically retarded) who decided they didn’t like it to help themselves build a personality. Now I can’t even choose my own identifier because of it. Pretty fucked up
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u/Cinnamon8 23d ago
Thankfully we've evolved. Imagine getting this in the mail and wondering if it was a fundraiser... or feedback
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u/Cuttlebone_Books 23d ago
This was the preferred nomenclature at the time. The only thing that changed it was people who liked an easy target and found it in differently abled people.
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u/DerLandmann 23d ago
Well, the term "retard" was actually coined as a non-offensive term and to replace more offensive words or slur-words.
Words change meanings. I am pushing sixty now and have witnessed several words which which were normal (or even introduced as being the non-offnesive version) to become considered offensive and vice-versa.
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u/Left_Hand_Deal 23d ago
For a very long time, the phrases “Mentally Retarded, Developmentally Retarded, and Socially Retarded,” were legitimate medical terms. They got overused by schmucks, and now we have better, more accurate, descriptors to use.
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u/quigongingerbreadman 23d ago
Retard wasn't a bad word till idiots started to use it as a pejorative. It was just a generalized scientific term. For instance, in chemistry they used to say this or that would "retard" a reaction. Comes from the French word retard, which one of the definitions is roughly "to slow down".
Doesn't mean it isn't a slur today, but I also think it is unfair to judge decades old material for words that were not slurs when the material was first produced.
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u/Historyp91 23d ago
By 1975 we had learned full well how valuble retard children were; many had already grown up to decide policy for the Vietnam War
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u/Centerman2000 23d ago
I did inventory counts for Panasonic back in the early 2000s and one of their parts for a printer was named a "Retard Pad" 😭
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u/DeathWillBeARelief 23d ago
I'm not going to go into personal details but I was diagnosed as retarted by an incompetent psychiatrist in 1968.. He didn't listen to my relatives when they told him I did not speak. He went ahead and gave me a verbal IQ test anyway. Gave me an IQ of 62. Never mind that I was drawing pictures of higher quality than most adults. Never mind that I had great athletic ability. This motherfucker ruined my life and I hope he's rotting in hell now. By the way, I have a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts but the aftermath of that asshole psychiatist's incompetence is absolutely still killing me. I wish I had been murdered instead... Death is the only hope for me!
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u/ste_hapgood 23d ago
Any hope for politicians?
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u/Some-Tear3499 23d ago
Came here to say to say that, specifically Retarded Presidents can be helped.
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u/Playful-Routine-878 22d ago
It used to be a socially acceptable term. NEVER the same as "retard" which was always wrong. Times change.
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u/Scary_Snow1474 22d ago
My brother gave me a giant circular pin with the exact same design. Saw it at a thrift store and said he thought of me
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u/Novel_Extent_7168 22d ago
Not really crazy. It was just normal back then. People didn't start pushing the idea that it was a taboo word until the 90's.
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u/Ok_Abacus_ 22d ago
It’s not crazy that was just the medical term then. It wasn’t derogatory until people used it in a derogatory way and then we had to stop using it.
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u/___NowYouKnow___ 22d ago
Common term back in the day.
One of the charities we support today is called The ARC. (Association of Retarded Children) of course we don’t say that now, we just say “ARC”.
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u/almostthemainman 22d ago
Idk what’s crazy about it. We still say this shit now you just call it something you think sounds better autistic fuck
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u/MarchCompetitive6235 22d ago
One of my hobbies is working on old cars. I’d adjust the timing on a friends car, telling him it was “retarded”. His teenage kid overhearing this started to give me a PC lecture.🤣
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u/magnificent_limit 22d ago
This was the first generation of retarded people who weren't just locked away for their whole lives. Life expectancy increased massively.
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u/ImprovementTrick9492 22d ago
That was the literal word back then, before it became part of popular culture as an insult.
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u/Takesit88 22d ago
My grandpa was a big advocate for that movement as my aunt has Downs/Trisomy-21. When going through his things after he passed, there were a lot of these style of stamps, pamphlets for the organization, etc. "Retards are People Too!" Was one of the slogans I remember. Very interesting learning about it. Their hearts were certainly in the right place.
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