[graciegirl]

Yesterday I received an email that is copied in part below from dear old friends who also are blessed with a daughter that has Williams Syndrome.

I just want you to know that I realize that using the word retarded is usually not meant to hurt people who have a loved one with disabilities or the persons themselves, but it frequently does. Just kinda wanted for people to think about it.

The below email is from a letter sent out from Special Olympics which are celebrating their 60th year.

"On August 13, "Tropic Thunder," a DreamWorks production starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and several other Hollywood actors, will open in movie theaters nationwide. "Tropic Thunder" has been marketed as a satire about Hollywood actors and the movie industry in general. It is intended to be an adult comedy – with crass jokes and scenes to make moviegoers laugh. However, we here at Special Olympics are not laughing.

In "Tropic Thunder," there is a movie-within-the movie called “Simple Jack…Once upon a time there was a retard” where Ben Stiller plays a simple man with an intellectual disability. Both "Tropic Thunder" and "Simple Jack" contain extremely offensive material promoting the idea that a “retard” is funny. The R-word is repeated in offensive dialogue more than 60 times throughout the movie.

The R-word is derogatory hate speech that demeans the more than three percent of people around the world who have intellectual disabilities. Hollywood and “Tropic Thunder” use and abuse the R-word, encouraging behavior that continues to demean a portion of our population who already face many challenges"