Monday, 14 December 2015

An In Depth Study Of The R Word Pledge Initiative

By Evelyn Walls


There has been a concerted effort to stop the use of the word retard over the United States. This word is termed as very derogatory and its daily use in normal conversations is seen as very insensitive to the people dealing with all sorts of intellectual disabilities. It is for this very reason that the R word pledge was started in the year 2009.

Due consideration is being achieved to be given to the welfare of mentally or even physically challenged individuals and this led to the campaign for the use of more appropriate words. The main agenda for this movement is informing the public at large that these individuals, if regarded as any other people can be of gainful contribution to the society.

The origin of this movement was through an outfit known as Spread the Word to End the Word. This was done during the Special Olympics Global Activation Summit by several youth who were both with and without the cognitive disabilities. All this got to take place during Special Olympics World Winter games in the year 2009.

Students from all over the United States usually take part in this initiative by promising to discard the usage of the word retard in their day to day activities. They also promise to educate the public on the same. March 31 is usually the nationwide day for the propagation of this program. Through this movement, some people who hold public offices have been strongly condemned for violating the very objective of this movement and this has even led to them making public apologies. Some of them have even gone to join the movement.

Social media has been of great use to this movement since it is through it that the basic ideas held by it have been transmitted to a huge population of people. One of the ways is that it is very much encouraged to tweet the pledges through Twitter. Youtube and Facebook have been of huge benefit in spreading the ideologies to the hard to reach areas. The utilization of newsletters is seen also to be of great importance in informing the public at large on the scheduled events and their timings.

There is also the carrying of a torch of respect through which people are able to show their support. The torch is usually passed on from one person to the other in all the states in America. During this period of around 46 days is also used for fund raising activities with an aim reaching more people.

People are always encouraged to share their story as to what prompted them into taking part in the movement in the website owned by this initiative. They are usually advised to display their passion for the fair treatment of the mentally disabled persons by sharing their personal testimonies with regards to this very matter.

The handling of people and even situations of the propagation of derogatory and insulting statements to physically challenged persons is taught. Participants are taught on the various ways of gauging the necessity and even methodology for an effective intervention whenever they find themselves in cases where these behaviors are exhibited. Several celebrities have come and offered their personal endorsement for the pledge. Their endorsements have been very much welcomed since it has proved to be very invaluable to the information of the general population.




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