Students are out to prove that despite what some might believe, words can hurt.
Two Waltham Group divisions, Brandeis Buddies and SPECTRUM, teamed up last week to promote a wider community sensitivity toward the casual usage of the word "retard" for Spread the Word to End the Word, an "R-word" awareness week.
The areas of service the two groups focus on during the year are different but related. Brandeis Buddies works to build friendships between Brandeis students and adults with developmental disabilities who work at Brandeis, while SPECTRUM is a disability awareness group that aims to develop bonds between Brandeis students and families of children with developmental disabilities. Their complementing missions inspired them to collaborate.
The Spread the Word to End the Word campaign is a national effort organized by the Special Olympics and Best Buddies International to raise awareness about the dehumanizing impact of the word. The campaign is based on the idea that the words we use have large societal implications as well as dire personal effects.
Throughout the week, both groups tabled in the Shapiro Campus Center and Usdan Student Center to get people to pledge not use the "R-word." Estie Martin '14, one of the SPECTRUM coordinators, shared at the beginning of the event that "a lot of people have been saying throughout the week that they either heard the campaign and did it in high school and really loved it or they've never heard of it and are really excited to learn more about it."
The campaign concluded with an event held this past Thursday at Pearlman Lounge and featured Massachusetts State Representative Tom Sannicandro, members of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy and speakers from the Watch City Self Advocates branch of Greater Waltham Arc Inc., an organization that serves people with developmental disabilities.
Leah Igdalsky '14, who has volunteered with both the GWArc and Brandeis Buddies, also coordinated this event. "I wondered why Brandeis had never had any kind of event or campaign around this [issue] at a school dedicated to social justice," Igdalsky said. "It seemed like something that was just kind of basic, and we want to make sure our campus and our community is aware of the fact that language matters and the way you talk affects the way you act towards different people."
At the Thursday event, Sannicandro spoke about his own experiences with the injustices that have been forced upon people with disabilities. While recounting the history of eugenics in America, he shared a personal story about his son, who was born with Down Syndrome. The school's administrators told his son that he could not attend the same school as other children because of his disability. Instead, he was encouraged to look into the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center, located in Waltham. Sannicandro took a tour of the school, and after witnessing the miserable conditions in which the people were living, he said "I thought I was going to vomit in the parking lot, it was that disturbing to me."
Although discrimination toward those with developmental disabilities has not ended, he thinks that society is progressing in the right direction as state legislatures work to eradicate dehumanizing attitudes. "You are [at] a point of history where times are changing very rapidly. You need to understand what happened before, and what happened before to say it was ugly was a gross understatement," said Sannicandro.
Sannicandro also addressed questions about what can be done to remdy discrimination going forward, saying that plans are in the works all across the country to change the structure of the K-12 system by allowing students with developmental disabilities to attend normal classes while receiving supplemental support.
An attendee raised the question of how to respond when in conversation with someone who uses the "R-word." While acknowledging how offensive the word is and that people may feel as though they need to do something out of guilt, Sannicandro says that,
"it is most important to intrinsically understand what we are talking about" than to necessarily feel the need to react in such situations.
After Sannicandro spoke, Martin and Igdalsky presented three short films which displayed the realities of people with disabilities. The videos featured interviews with people with developmental disabilities. The answers were heartwarming, as some of the interviewees responded "I wouldn't change anything about myself."
This message of respect and equality was reaffirmed by the words of three leaders of the Watch City Self Advocates group, identified as Kristina S., Joe O., and Marci S. Kristina spoke about the slang meaning of the word and why it is demeaning to use that word to describe people with developmental disabilities. She said that those with developmental disabilities, like herself and the other advocates, "are so much more than that word; we are athletes, artists, dancers, workers, singers, teachers, sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers and friends."
Aaron Yang '14 who attended the event, said "my favorite part was hearing from the self advocates at the end, because it showed me another perspective from people with disabilities," he said.
Liz Soolkin '14, another attendee, said, "People use so many words per day that they don't think of each one as necessarily significant. The event was a great setting to have a discussion about the words that we use and in particular, words that carry a lot of pain for others.