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Home > Blogs > Lakota Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > August > 13 > Entry
That’s just mean
I just got a press release from the Ohio Special Olympics. It caught my attention, because we recently had a seminar on People First language. The goal there is to ensure we aren’t perpetuating stereotpyes about groups of people, specifically those with disabilities. They are not “special” or “retarded” or “challenged.” They are people, plain and simple.
Apparently, Hollywood did not take that into consideration when making a comedy about a “special” person. Read this letter below. “This year, Special Olympics celebrates 40 years of changing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, along with building more inclusive and engaged communities around the world - places where each person, regardless of ability or disability, is accepted and welcomed and where every individual contributes to the strength and vibrancy of the whole. Leading the way in promoting acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities, Special Olympics opposes prejudice and discrimination, continuously working to dispel the negative stereotypes associated with this population — the use of the word R-word (retard) being one such stereotype. In a world that has worked to eliminate racial and ethnic prejudicial language such as the N word, among others, the R-word is gaining popularity.
On August 13, “Tropic Thunder,” a DreamWorks production starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and several other Hollywood actors, will open in movie theaters nationwide. “Tropic Thunder” has been marketing as a satire about Hollywood actors and the movie industry in general. It is intended to be an adult comedy - with crass jokes and scenes to make moviegoers laugh. However, we here at Special Olympics are not laughing.
In “Tropic Thunder,” there is a movie-within-the movie called “Simple Jack…Once upon a time there was a retard” where Ben Stiller plays a simple man with intellectual disability. Both “Tropic Thunder” and “Simple Jack” contain extremely offensive material promoting the idea that a “retard” is funny.
Thank You,
Curt Howard, Special Olympics Ohio”
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