Wednesday, April 1, 2009
More than 100 students pledged to “Spread the Word to End the Word” Tuesday in front of Wescoe Hall.
Spread the Word to End the Word is an initiative to raise awareness about the stigma surrounding the “r-word” — “retard.”
Clint Armistead, Overland Park sophomore, is president of the KU chapter of Special Olympics College and director of the event on campus.
Forrest Woods, Wichita sophomore, holds up the petition poster as Melissa Conrad, Olathe freshman signs it. Woods and Overland Park sophomore Clint Armistead are volunteering for the Special Olympics to end the use of the word "retard" in a pejorative context.
“Two hundred million people in this world have an intellectual disability,” Armistead said. “This word offends many, many people and is very harmful.”
The goal of Special Olympics International was to have 100,000 people pledge not to use the word on the Web site www.r-word.org.
Armistead said the goal for the University was 5,000 pledges, but it would be difficult to estimate how many students pledged because there was no way to specify student status when pledging on the Web site.
“That’s going to be difficult to count,” Armistead said. “We put that goal and hopefully we can reach that somehow and try and get an estimation to see if we reached that amount, but it’s really unlikely to determine.”
Armistead said pledging showed initiative.
“Often times, kids our age in college are told we are going to be the leaders of tomorrow,” Armistead said. “We’re trying to prove that you can actually be the leaders of today.”
Special Olympics International started SO College during the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Boise, Idaho, in February.
Armistead said Special Olympics College connected high school volunteers involved in Special Olympics with the professional world.
“It’s a network of universities worldwide working together to try and create that next bridge between the high school level, where people tend to volunteer quite frequently and have gotten in connection with Special Olympics into that professional field,” Armistead said.
Spread the Word to End the Word was originally proposed by two college students who also started SO College.
Armistead said Special Olympics International liked the idea enough that they decided to host the event, providing T-shirts, posters, stickers, buttons and other materials to SO College.
Bailey Schiltz, Tonganoxie freshman, said she decided to volunteer because she had a cousin with autism who was involved in Special Olympics.
“It has a pretty big effect on people who are actually mentally handicapped,” Schiltz said. “When I hear people say that, it hurts feelings.”
Armistead said pictures and video taken in front of Wescoe would be posted on the Special Olympics Web site.
Armistead said the effort had important social significance to him.
“It’s similar to the civil rights movement of our day,” Armistead said. “It’s an opportunity for us to fight for civil liberties.”
— — Edited by Chris Hickerson
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Rethinking the “r-word”
I work with people who have developmental disabilities all the time. They are some of the most rewarding people to work with, and are people just like everyone else. It's very easy to forget about people with disabilities when you are in college, because we don't encounter them very often, but they are out there. I'm really happy that Special Olympics is making an appearance on campus to try and raise awareness of how we talk about and think about people with disabilities.
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