I have been involved with the Special Olympics organization since 1988. When I first started, the acceptable term was Mental Retardation to describe our athletes. In 2003 Special Olympics athletes from around the world held a Global Athlete's Congress, in conjunction with the World Games in Dublin, Ireland. Out of this meeting of athletes came a change in terminology that would be used to describe participants in Special Olympics. The mission statement was changed to reflect the athlete's wishes. This is how it is defined on the Special Olympics website:
Why did Special Olympics update its terminology from “mental retardation” to “intellectual disabilities”? In response to a call from our athletes and the growing social unacceptability of the term “mental retardation” around the world, Special Olympics has adopted the term “intellectual disabilities” when referring to the people with whom we serve. The word “mental” can be confused with the term “mental illness” and the word “retardation” is associated with offensive terms such as “retard” or “retarded.”
|