Moving away from the use of the term "mental retardation":
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A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling clarifying what constitutes
intellectual disability also marked a major milestone in efforts to put
an end to use of the term “mental retardation.”
For the first time ever, the nation’s highest court used the term intellectual disability in its decision last week in a case known as Hall v. Florida.
“Previous opinions of this court have employed the term ‘mental
retardation.’ This opinion uses the term ‘intellectual disability’ to
describe the identical phenomenon,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the
court’s majority opinion.
In explaining the court’s change, Kennedy pointed to use of the updated language in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Kennedy also cited Rosa’s Law,
a 2010 act requiring “intellectual disability” and “individual with an
intellectual disability” to be used in lieu of “mental retardation” and
“mentally retarded” in federal health, education and labor policy.
The Supreme Court’s move to follow suit marks what may be the last
major national institution to adopt language that self-advocates have
been urging for decades.
“Getting the name change in the eyes of the court is kind of the last
step in a 25 year process to affirm the dignity of people with
intellectual disability,” said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc.
A grassroots effort that began with self-advocates who didn’t want to
be called “retarded” lobbying organizations like those now known as The
Arc and the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental
Disabilities to modify their own names, ultimately led most states to
alter language in their laws.
More recently, campaigns like Special Olympics’ “Spread the Word to
End the Word” have encouraged the public to drop what many find to be
offensive terms from everyday speech.
The Supreme Court’s adoption of the updated terminology came in a
ruling last week asserting that states must consider a margin of error
in IQ test scores when assessing who has intellectual disability.
At issue was the case of Freddie Lee Hall, a convicted murdered who
was sentenced to death despite having IQ scores ranging from 60 to 80.
Previously, in a 2002 case, the high court determined that those with
intellectual disability were not eligible for the death penalty. In its
latest action, the Supreme Court clarified its position by striking
down Florida’s rigid requirement that individuals must have IQ scores of
70 or below to be diagnosed with intellectual disability.
Berns from The Arc indicated that his group and others advocating on
behalf of people with disabilities have noted for years in briefs to the
court that “mental retardation” is an outdated term. Nonetheless,
advocates continued using the term in court papers to ensure that
language within their legal arguments did not cause confusion.
Now, however, with the Supreme Court acknowledging that intellectual
disability is an updated way to refer to what was once known as “mental
retardation,” advocates can use their preferred wording.
“We will be able to move away from the old terminology once and for all,” Berns said.
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