Language
is powerful. Language shapes the way in which we view the world, other people,
and ourselves. Recently, Ann Coulter tweeted regarding the presidential debate
and used the word “retard” with reference to President Obama.
There are, of course, the problems of the sophomoric level of political
discourse that this demonstrates and the total disrespect of the office and
person of President Obama. The larger issue is the ongoing dehumanization of
persons with cognitive disabilities. Many people with cognitive disabilities
are not able to advocate for themselves. There are of course exceptions, such
as John Franklin Stephens, who wrote an open letter to Coulter appealing to her to stop
using this demeaning term. To his credit, he was much more charitable than I
would have been.
The
issue here is not political correctness. It is about rejecting dehumanization.
When we reduce people to one word or one characteristic, we do not acknowledge
their full humanity. This is particularly the case when we reduce people to
a single demeaning term. People with cognitive disabilities such as Down
Syndrome are fully human, deserving of the same rights and respect as every
other human. It is only in recent decades that we have really begun to
acknowledge this in our society, as we have moved away from the widespread
practice of institutionalizing such people and regarding them as unable to
learn or to contribute to society. We still have a long way to go, and comments
such as Coulter’s represent a big step in the wrong direction. If we could
learn to see people as God sees them, how much better off would we all
be?
I'm
the father of a child with Down Syndrome. I honestly do my best to remain
cognizant of the fact that most people are not like my son, Sean, and most
people aren't used to interacting with someone with Down Syndrome. But when an
inappropriate action is not accidental, but fully intentional, and carries
dehumanizing consequences, it is incumbent upon Christians to call this
out.