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I know, because I used to work for MHMR. A governmental agency, which also STILL uses the term.
If it's still a "medical term", I can't fault Schumer for using it, can you?
You state you know better than to use it, and wham, you did anyway.
I worked in MR (Mentally Retarded)/ DD (Developmentally Disabled) Day Hab and Group Homes. That was the official designation. We staff referred to our clients as Consumers because they "consumed" Services. That was the in field jargon. I worked in NYS.
Certainly, Schumer was around at the same time and place (NY) as Willowbrook, which we had to watch the video of every year of our employment. Maybe it was just a slip of the tongue based on his age.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ClaraC
He did immediately apologize.
He was referring to a problem that was occurring when he first became an assemblyman, that they were going to build a home for retarded children, and he opposed it. And in 1974, at the time, that's exactly what they were called.
Even through the 90's, people with low intellectual functioning were called "children with mental retardation" or "adults with mental retardation" using the "people first" terminology rather than the "disability first" terminology.
That's right, in fact back in the late 1960s I used to volunteer to work with the people at the "home for retarded" in our city. For someone his age it's just hard to break habits, and that was the word we used for many years. People shouldn't make such a big deal out of it. Now if someone much younger like AOC said it, she would have no such excuse, being too young to remember what used to be normal and quite acceptable.
His political job requires he keep up with the constantly shifting goalposts of acceptable euphemisms. Many people don't have time for that, or they prefer literal clarity in speech.
retarded: [adjective] slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development
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