Respect for People with Intellectual Disabilities

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TEASED OR LABELED AS A

CHILD?

Eventually, we all grow up and the name-calling and teasing goes

away….

But for some, the stigma stays with them forever.

For centuries, people with intellectual disabilities have been mistreated.

In medieval times, people with intellectual disabilities were looked upon by other people as “fools” of the community; some would be locked in cages for the entertainment of passerby's.

Families were ashamed of children with disabilities so many were homeless or persecuted.

In the late 1800’s institutions opened for “idiots” and “the feeble minded” where they received poor treatment and experienced unlivable conditions.

Treatment of people with intellectual disabilities throughout

history.

Thankfully, scientific and political advances as well as education

have caused people with intellectual disabilities play a much different role in society.

The Mental Retardation Facilities and Community Health Construction Act was passed in 1963 to provide federal funding for community mental health centers in the United States by JFK, who also began the start of deinstitutionalization in the 1970’s.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, which provided equal opportunity for employment, transportation, telecommunications, public accommodation’s, and the state and federal government’s services of the intellectually disabled, was passed in 1990.

Unfortunately, the distasteful labeling still has not gone away…

It’s up to us as members of society to continue this endeavor to make people aware that intellectually disabled people can be

hurt by unacceptable labels that are placed on them. Intellectually disabled people deserve the same respect as all

members of our communities.

Join the fight!

Help to spread the word against using negative language towards the intellectually disabled.

http://www.r-word.org/