Ending the R-Word: Ban it or Understand it

Ellen Seidman and her son, Max.

Every time Ellen Seidman hears the word "retarded," she worries for her 9-year-old son, Max, who has cerebral palsy.
She wonders if people will ever respect him, or see him as an equal, if they associate that word with people like him, who have intellectual disabilities.
"I'm not saying that anyone who uses the word flippantly has something against people with special needs," said Seidman, a magazine editor and mom blogger. "But it is a demeaning word even if it's meant as a joke, because it spreads the idea that people who are cognitively impaired are either stupid or losers."