The Unwanted and Unneeded Return of the R-Word

I saw how NPR had a segment discussing, "The worrisome return of the R-Word," late last month. It is a good listen and only 14 minutes long. The general idea is how the word, "Retarded," started out in medical settings, became an insult/slur, faded away, and unfortunately clawed its way back into some of the cultural dialogue (and is nowadays often used to insult those with differing political views or say unkind things about politicians). Unlike slurs that are more specific to race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion, the general thrust of insults that suggest disability is that someone is somehow less-than and incompetent--as if those with a disability are too. You've doubtlessly seen folks claiming, "I'm not insulting the disabled, I'm just calling out regular people who are being stupid," but that's equivalent to claiming you didn't start a forest fire but are happy to throw kindling on it.I never saw the appeal of using, "Retarded," as a slur when I was a child in the…