Not Acceptable

Regular readers of my blog will know that the R word is one that I hate.  I've written about it many times before and unfortunately will more than likely have cause to write about it many more times in the future.  An argument I've made to many people is "if you wouldn't use ... (insert derogatory term about another minority group) then don't use the R word".  It's hate speech, it's unacceptable and it hurts.  It actually, physically, hurts.

Unfortunately the R word is alive and well at present as demonstrated by the fact that Caitlin Moran used it in her recently published book which is being pimped left right and centre.  Nicky Clark has written about it here and has had something of a success (Caitlin Moran tweeted something of a pathetic apology and an attempt to justify it and the publishers say any reprints will have the wording removed).

That's why I was so pleased to see this video (and not just because it includes people from Glee) which will hopefully help towards putting the R word in it's coffin once and for all.



To help Spread the Word to End the Word, you can visit R-Word.org where you can find information and resources and also take the pledge. Please do so.

Why is the R word so offensive?

A few days ago an anonymous comment was left on one of my entries asking why the R word is more offensive to me than idiot or moron.

For some reason that seemed to be a bit of a difficult question for me to answer; I'm not sure why.  I think for me it's an obvious thing (not that I mean to suggest the person who asked the question is wrong, I should probably make my points clearer when I write).  I've been wanting to respond but not sure how to.

I think that both the I word and the M word aren't used as deliberate insults designed to target and hurt a specific group of society any more.  I'm not sure of their origins as words.  The R word however, that's no longer used in it's correct/original useage - to describe someone with a specific type of disability in a medical way.  It's used to ridicule and to hurt a specific group of people. Disabled people.  And it's unacceptable.

If you're going to take one thing away from this entry, you could take anything I've written above, I hope I've made it clearer than I did before.  But I'd much rather you went and looked at this post about a much loved daughter and the R word.  It says it much better than I ever could.

Or you could go and read about the battle Nicky Clark had with Ofcom and Channel 4 about the R word being used.  750 Mencap members gave evidence of the hurt and hate they'd encountered from the R word. Yet it still took a protest and multiple appeals before anything was done.  As Nicky wrote in her post, if the terms used had been racist or anti religion the apology would have been immediate.  This isn't a small problem, it's a big one.  Unfortunately however it's a big one not many people take seriously.

And I'm one of a group of people who want to change that.  That's why the R word bothers me more than the I word (idiot), the M word (moron).