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This Must End!
My Brother Steven is Retarded
Sobol
1977
Recreation for Retarded Teenagers and Young Adults
Carlson and Ginglend
1968
We’ve had quite a few submissions with the word “retarded” in the title over the last few years. Here’s hoping these are the last two – that you will all do a title keyword search for “retarded” and promptly weed them off your shelves.
Brothers and Sisters of Retarded Children
Johnny’s Such a Bright Boy, What a Shame He’s Retarded
19 Responses to This Must End!
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Are you sure the dates for those books aren’t reversed? Also, the second book makes it seem like only teenagers have special needs and not the young adults. I’ll admit I’ve called teenagers a few words, but…
“Maturing Retardate” ?! I didn’t know there was a more offensive form of “retard” out there!
That first one sounds like a 7-year-old’s class report about a sibling he didn’t like.
Gee, Harriet hated her brother so much, she wrote a whole book insulting him? That’s some sibling rivalry right there…
Did one better and changed the last remaining four book descriptions that included “mentally retarded” to “developmentally delayed”. The real shame? The newest recorded that I had to change was 2010.
You do understand that “retarded” is a medical term?
I understand that people want a “nicer” word and have started using the term “developmentally disabled” instead, but it’s a less precise term. Language should evolve over time to be more precise, not less, much like the ancient Greeks only had four words for colors and we have thousands.
Honestly, there is nothing wrong with the word “retarded” except that people–mostly school aged children–use the word for anything they think is stupid. By that same logic, we should search for some euphemism for homosexuality rather than stopping people from using “gay” to mean stupid.
Yes, as a medical librarian, I’ll point out that “Mental Retardation” is the Medical Subject Heading for persons with intellectual disabilities otherwise unspecified (see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/cgi/mesh/2011/MB_cgi?mode=&term=Mental+Retardation&field=entry). Whether that is the best choice of words, I’ll leave for you and Sandford Berman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Berman) to decide! Of note, until recently, Conjoined Twins were given the subject heading Monsters by MeSH.
Retarded is a clinical word. This is the very reason why it’s an insult. If I had a nickel for everytime I called my brothers gay or retards, I would be RICH! The word only has the power that it’s given.
It may be because my brother was autistic and was called “retard” but I am very offended by this term. It may be the correct term, but like “gay” it has negative connotations. I for one would rather hear disabled.
I think there’s a difference between the term “mentally retarded” and the slangier “retarded.” It’s like the difference between “Japanese” and the derogatory “Jap.” If “retarded” is OK, why not just go for “retard” or “‘tard”? Plus, “retarded” is not specific enough to mean anything–a person’s physical growth, educational attainment, or emotional maturity could be retarded for reasons that have nothing to do with their intellectual functioning.
honestly? I want copies of some of these books. All this PC nonsense causes physical pain to me. Its simply ridiculous that there is so much offense here. Don’t like these books? good for you. I’m sure you’re not the only one. This is exactly why I have a growing hate for the people of America. These books in this post alone are from a time when it was acceptable. Get over it. You can’t retroactively change the name of a book.
@Kata–Except that the word gay doesn’t tend to have negative connotations. What I mean is, yes, people use it negatively to say that things they don’t like are “gay,” but if you say “My brother is gay,” no one assumes you’re being mean (like they would if you said “My brother is retarded”). They just assume your brother likes guys and is therefore, by definition, gay. There is no negative connotation whatsoever in that context.
In the books in question, there is no specific medical diagnosis, so “retarded” and “developmentally delayed” could be used interchangeably. Since I work in a middle school, I decided to go for “developmentally delayed. The books themselves don’t even use the term “retarded”!
I wish gay could simply go back to meaning happy/joyful and not as a description for a sexual orintation. Because now people use it as an insult as well.
Some words should never change their meanings.
Also, Beth, the books probably have information that is out of date and useless – or even flat out wrong. Having the word retarded is only one of many problems I’m sure these books have.
Yeah, I couldn’t care less about being PC. I have a dodgy hip. Call me disabled, call me a gimp, my hip still freaking doesn’t work.
To me the real issue is that these books act like someone with a “non normative developemental function” is some kind of bug. Folks is folks.
Retarded comes from Latin, it means slowed or delayed. That’s all. The books are not harmful or hurtful, they are using the word properly and without derogatory meaning. Weed the books based on their content, provided there are newer books that cover the same material, but don’t label them as derogatory or insulting, when they were written to address a range of medical issues.
I actually weeded this title from my collection last year. I could not believe it was there. Especially since we had a librarian with an autistic son at one point!
I’m exploring the issue of the use of this term in books because of a complaint about a fiction title “Probable Cause” by Grif Stockley. Published in 1994, the plot is centered on the accidental death of a disabled girl, except the novel and the reviews all use the outdated term. What do you think? Withdraw? I am leaning that way. He is a respected civil rights lawyer and known for his mysteries, but given the need to eradicate that term, I think it should go.
anyone who finds these books offensive is an idiot.
back in the day, “retarded” was perfectly acceptable to describe someone who had a mental disability. i see no reason why it still shouldn’t be. just because some kids use the word as an insult doesn’t take away from the meaning of it. if we invent new words to mean old things, the new words will simply be used as insults as well.
if somebody could come up with a COMPETENT argument as to why we should all switch, i would consider it. until then, however, i will continue using the word as i always have done.