More Than Words

On Monday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed a piece of legislation replacing the term ‘mental retardation’ with ‘intellectual’ or ‘developmental’ disability. He is not the first governor to do so and it is clear he won’t be the last. So what? you may ask.

We made the decision early on to include a section on language in the First Conversation book (page 55) because language is more than the words we speak. It is the stuff we use to think with. And, because people think in language, the language we use always has the potential to affect the way we think about things.

Consider the case of Nick Marcellino, a 14-year-old student from Maryland. Nick’s younger sister, Rosa, has Down syndrome. He knows very well how she feels every time she is referred to as “retarded”, not only by other children, but in her own IEP and other official documentation of the educational system. As a result, he began his campaign, enlisted the help of the media, and eventually convinced the Maryland legislature to change all references to mental retardation in official state language to read ‘intellectual disability’.

And he didn’t stop there.

Nick then took his very personal advocacy effort to Washington in order to remove the term “mentally retarded” from the lexicon of the Federal government as well. Earlier this year, he testified in front of the United States Senate in support of S.2781 – a bill to change references to mental retardation in Federal law to ‘intellectual disability’, and to change references to mentally retarded people to ‘individuals with intellectual disabilities’. The bill, known as Rosa’s Law, was passed by the Senate two weeks ago.  The House will take up its version next month.

In November, Nick, Rosa, and the rest of the family will join us in Milwaukee to accept the 2010 Bethesda Voices Public Policy Award. I can’t wait to meet them.

Changing the words we use challenges us to think differently. It’s about respect. It’s about dignity.  And, at least for Nick Marcellino, it’s about the strength of a family.

David Morstad

Advertisement