Monday, December 21, 2009

Eliminate the stigma


The following message was contained in an email from The Arc, the world’s largest community based organization of and for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. www.thearc.org

Do You Want the Term "Mental Retardation" Removed from Federal Laws? Take Action! A new federal bill would replace this stigmatizing term with "intellectual disability."

On November 17, Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Michael Enzi (R-WY) introduced "Rosa's Law" (S. 2781), a bipartisan bill to substitute outdated, stigmatizing terms in federal health, education and labor laws. The terms "mental retardation" and "mentally retarded" would be substituted with the terms "intellectual disability" and "individual with an intellectual disability."

This bill is very important for people with intellectual disabilities who understand that language plays a crucial role in how they are perceived and treated in society and are actively advocating for terminology changes in federal and state laws. "Mentally retarded," once an accepted medical term, is now often used to demean and insult people. Changing how we talk about people with intellectual disabilities is a critical step in promoting and protecting basic civil and human rights.

As of December 21, Rosa's Law has 15 cosponsors in the Senate and the support of more than 30 national organizations.

Take Action

If your Senators are already cosponsors, please send a quick email thanking them. If your Senators are not yet cosponsors, please ask them to cosponsor Rosa's Law.

Sample messages are provided, based on whether your Senators are cosponsors or not, when you click on the "Take Action" link (below) and enter your zip code. Please add any information about yourself and why this issue is so important to you.

What Are the Next Steps?

In early 2010, we will launch a campaign to get a companion bill introduced in the House of Representatives.

If grassroots advocates continue to let let their Senators and Representatives know that Rosa's law is a priority, the bills will be much more likely to make their way through the lengthy legislative process and become law.

Editor's comment: Take Action!

You can read about the Senate Bill and take action to send a comment to your Senators through this link: http://capwiz.com/thearc/issues/alert/?alertid=14467586&queueid=[capwiz:queue_id]

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