Disability Awareness

IDENTIFY, DEMYSTIFY, DIVERSIFY

March brings awareness to intellectual/developmental disabilities

Article by Sarah Zehnder Graphic by Jaidyn Holt

This article contains potentially sensitive material concerning the harsh treatment of individuals with disabilities and discusses the ‘R’ word.

History

March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan made this designation to encourage equal rights for those with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD). The intent of this designation is to acknowledge and appreciate those with I/DD and tell their stories. The Trinity Family can help make a difference not only at school but in our community.

Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities are conditions that adversely affect the trajectory of one’s physical, intellectual, and/or emotional development. But, who exactly falls into the I/DD community? Common or well-known examples are Down Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Cerebral Palsy.

Discrimination

For many years, the ‘R’ word was used in the context of “mental retardation” by medical professionals for people with I/DD. However, the ‘R’ word has since become a slang word for someone stupid or ignorant and is now considered pejorative.

“It [the ‘R’ word] is such a horrible word,” senior and founder of Trinity’s Best Buddies club Emma Davey said. “It was used so much to oppress people with disabilities. People with disabilities used to be sent to intuitional camps just because they had an extra chromosome, for example. That word represents all of that because that’s what they were labeled as and it hurts me to say it.”

Lobotomies, a procedure that involves the severing of brain connections, were performed on people with disabilities in the early 20th century as a way to “fix” them.

People with disabilities were and often still are called this hateful word as a way to make them feel lesser than. This word is not to be used jokingly in passing; it represents decades of injustice and prejudice.

The offensive word shows up a lot in today’s tweeted: “I’m sorry. I plan to remove the redialect, even on campus. Davey said she has straint scenes from all future printings. I lisexperienced situations where people say the tened to the wrong people and that is my word, and she does not know how to react. She responsibility, my research was clearly not said that it is uncomfortable when it is said so thorough enough, not wide enough.” The often. people she listened to were in fact an Autism

“It [the ‘R’ word] actually came up in one of awareness group, Autism Speaks, which has the Trinity plays when I was in seventh grade been heavily criticized for its unflattering porand I didn’t know how to handle the situa- trayal and pitying treatment of people with tion,” Davey said. autism. As an attempt to combat this, during the month of March, the Best Buddies club is What can Trinity do? starting a campaign called “Spread the Word Although the percentage of students at Trinto End the Word” where participants vow to ity with I/DD is very low, the school comnot say the word as a way to spread awareness. munity can still make strides in improving its

“Part of the campaign is having a bunch of inclusivity at school towards students with I/ people sign a banner and pledge that they are DD and to those in the community at large. not going to say the ‘R’ word anymore,” Davey Although being deaf does not fall under the said. category of I/DD, ASL is commonly used to

The media has played a role in heighten- communicate with nonspeaking people with ing awareness about the challenges faced by autism and other disabilities. those with I/DD. Often, accurate informa- “If we [Trinity] had an ASL class and tion and authentic count[ed] it as a foreign lancharacterizations of “It’s all about inclusion. Peo- guage, which I know Winter people with disabilities are portrayed. ple with disabilites are peoPark does that, we could have a whole curriculum and that But sometimes the ple just like the rest of us. would be amazing,” Davey media still gets it wrong. One recent - Emma Davey, Senior said. “Being able to converse even a little with someone example is in the who is deaf, opens up a whole movie “Music,” produced by artist Sia. The new world.” movie follows a young woman named Music, From learning how to respectfully navigate portrayed by Maddie Ziegler, who is autistic. someone who uses the “R” word, to includ-

The film includes a scene that features a dan- ing someone new in your everyday activities, gerous restraint method being used on Music Davey believes we can all take steps to make when she has a meltdown. The method of re- campus more inclusive. straint depicted has been lethal in some cases “I try to come from a place of educating and is upsetting to watch on screen. people instead of flipping out,” Davey said.

The movie also has scenes with flashing “It’s all about inclusion. People with disabillights and bright colors, which can trigger ities are people just like the rest of us. They seizures, which people with autism are prone deserve to be in classrooms right next to us, get to. Although unintentional, and to the fault jobs, and get paid like the rest of us.” of Sia, Ziegler’s performance came off as tonedeaf and mocking. Although the film was nominated for Golden Globes’s Best Motion Picture- Musical or The background is inspired by the logo for 2020 Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Comedy, the backlash for the movie was catastrophic.

Before deleting her Twitter account, Sia