I'm making a special blog post for today, which is a nationally recognized day to spread awareness about ending the "R word". I have one adorable yet feisty reason to make this post.
Not the "R Word" but the "ARRR" word
This is Isaac.
12 years ago, I was blessed with a little brother, who happens to have
Down's syndrome.
He's been my bosom buddy since he was born.
He may not be able to speak in complete sentences,
but he can communicate better than most adults.
Despite his good communication skills,
he's been bullied by other kids who are younger than him
He does not seem to recognize the bullying, and he just ignores it.
As his sister, and as someone else who has been bullied, it bothers me.
I want to protect him
I want to have a world for him to grow up in that accepts his disability, and
I feel as though that responsibility falls on my shoulders.
Most people are smart enough now a days to not use the R Word to someone's face,
but some people still use it to describe people who have disabilities.
For instance, I was interviewing someone for an aide position when I asked
them about their experience. working with people who have disabilities.
The person referred to her relative by using the "R word".
I asked her three times what disability her relative had, and each time, she replied with the same response.
I think that the problem goes deeper then just hurting peoople with the R Word.
People often use that word to describe something that is stupid.
Not only becuase of personal connection to the word, but also because of my personal feelings having to do with my brother, the "R word" is banned in my house
If anyone were to ever use that word to describe my brother, they
would probably lose their ankles.
I'm not kidding, I just got a new pair of wheels.
A Little About the "RWord" petition:
Our campaign is pretty simple. We are asking you to stop using the R-word because it hurt people when you do. What else is there to understand? Take the pledge at www.r-word.org
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