Oakton builds community, respect by pledging to end use of “R-word”
Entering Oakton’s cafeteria for lunch on March 2, students were greeted with a nearly overwhelming display of celebration. For a room that is usually loud and exciting enough on its own, the cafeteria on this day was filled with a level of excitement unseen at any other point in the year. A radio DJ, Tommy McFly, request list in hand, was blasting hits from his speakers in the corner. Against the far windows, representatives from Ledo’s Pizza were passing out free slices of their famous square pizza to anyone who came by.
Yet at the center of all this madness, between the free food and ear-splitting music, laid the most simple part of the entire event: a poster.
Students of all grades crowded around it, vying to sign their names onto the oversized piece of paper. At first glance, it would almost appear ridiculous; why would anyone care to write their names on this thing when so much other excitement was going on?
At the center of the signature-laden poster, however, stood the answer to this question in seven simple words: Spread the Word to End the Word. Indeed, students who marked their name on the poster were pledging their support to an international campaign determined to end the use of the “R-word.”
Although the term “retard”, or “retarded”, has lost much of its appeal in the medical and psychological communities to describe people with physical, mental, and developmental disabilities, the word still continues to hold a cultural stigma against disabled people. And despite its originations in a mostly medical sense, the word “retard” has since taken on a derogatory context used to demean and diminish members of the disabled community.
While many who still use this word do not realize the harm it can cause for many people, the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign has risen up to end the derogatory use of the “R-Word.” The organization bases their campaign off the idea that using more accepting language can develop more accepting attitudes and societies, not just for the disabled community, but for everybody involved. And thanks largely to the support of schools like Oakton across the country, this campaign has been able to gain serious traction. In addition to the countless thousands of signatures put on posters such as the one at Oakton, the movement has thus far gained over a 600 thousand pledges of online support alone.
The publicity behind this national movement has been sponsored largely through individual chapters of Best Buddies, a club whose message ties directly into the community-fostering ideals of Spread the Word to End the Word. In Best Buddies, which boasts nearly 1,900 around the world, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities are paired with member “buddies” who help them integrate into the larger school community.
Oakton boasts an especially active chapter of the organization, which has hosted Halloween dances, kickball games, and other events that many students have enjoyed with the buddies. Thanks to the activeness of Oakton’s Best Buddies, the club was able to schedule the recent Spread the Word to End the Word event with the support of local businesses who recognized the chapter’s impact.
“There’s been a lot of work with Best Buddies across the region, and Oakton has been a big part of it,” said McFly , whose channel 94.7 FM helped to sponsor the event, and who came to Oakton on March 2 to help liven up the event
In the eyes of McFly and other supporters of Oakton’s Best Buddies, the Spread the Word to End the Word movement has huge potential to help out people who’ve been harmed by the R-word, and for that reason the event to support it required an equally large level of dedication. “Today is a big day for the Spread the Word campaign,” McFly said, “it’s a fun way to give out pizza for a great cause, and more than anything it gets people talking about the issue.”
“Talking about it,” however, barely scrapes the surface of the impact the event has so far had on students. According to tenth grader Natty Abrahams, who signed the pledge himself, the poster represents the sentiment of an entire school moving towards being more inclusive. “This movement reinforces that, as a school, we want to be more respectful of other people,” said Abrahams.
Amongst those who signed the pledge, though, perhaps no students at Oakton have benefitted more from the movement than the disabled buddies themselves. According to Best Buddies president Sarah Williams, the buddies reported feeling immensely proud and excited to be part of such a huge movement. “Like one of my buddies put it,” said Williams, “today [they] get to feel like superstars!”
Almost anybody at Oakton can relate to a time when either they or one of their friends referred to something by the R-word. However, when people use that word to refer to unsavory things, the effect is that it brings down disabled people to the same lowly status.
But with movements such as Best Buddies and Spread the Word to End the Word, the exclusion of disabled people through this mean and unnecessary language can finally come to an end. As Williams also mentioned, the importance of this movement cannot be understated “although we sometimes think that we can’t do anything, we can really change the world,” Williams said.
While the world may still be waiting on its change at large, Oakton itself is certainly a good place to start. And so far, it’s gotten off to one of its best jumps yet.
So the next time you hear yourself; or a friend; or a family member; or simply anyone who breaks out the R-word, just take the advice of the Buddy Kyler Reese. “Don’t say the R-Word. Say STOP!”
