HOORAY COLUMBUS!

Sent from my lovely father-in-law, Bob, from the Columbus Dispatch. Love it.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

People aren't going to stop using the "R-word" overnight.
But a young man stung by it all his life issued this plea yesterday: Start trying.
"It is so not right," said Mike Groleau of Circleville.
With legislation pending and fresh support from Gov. Ted Strickland, Ohio finally appears ready to drop the words mental retardation from the state and county agencies that serve children and adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
At least 44 other states already have made the change.
Groleau and other advocates attending this week's conference sponsored by the Disabilities Network of Ohio-Solidarity say the matter cuts to the core of their battle for acceptance.
Mental retardation may be a precise diagnosis, but it often has a negative connotation and begets slurs, such as retard.
"People think that is who you are and what you are and that you cannot do things," said Groleau, vice president of People First of Ohio, a statewide disability awareness group that has long pushed for the change. "It's not fun getting made fun of."
Others say there is danger in scrubbing a word that refers to a specific condition -- an IQ of 70 or below -- and that entitles the person to certain support and services.
Developmental disabilities refers to a broader range of conditions, and not everyone with a developmental disability has mental retardation. A popular term right now is intellectual disability, but critics say lots of people have one of those.
"I feel that we will lose our identity," said Barb Williamson, a longtime parent advocate whose daughter died a few years ago at age 47. "The term is not a label. It's a diagnosis."
Attitudes, not words, are what need to change, said Williamson, who lives on the Northwest Side.
The two usually are intertwined, said Brian Joseph, a professor of linguistics at Ohio State University.
If the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities soon becomes the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities or something like that, the playground taunts won't automatically stop.
"It is possible for social sensibilities to change," Joseph said. "What is hard is for it to be an act of governmental decree or admonition."
Words go away when society deems them taboo. "You can think of what we euphemistically refer to as the 'N-word' as the case in point," he said.
The disability world has its examples, too. Before mental retardation came into fashion, the words idiot, imbecile and feeble-minded were official classifications.
In Franklin County, where the MRDD name has high recognition and taxpayer support, officials hope for enough time to make the change carefully, Superintendent Jed Morison said.
About 10 Ohio counties, including Delaware and Union, already have dropped mental retardation from their names.
"I'm happy I learned how to speak up about this," Groleau said.
He's looking forward to what he no longer hears.