[Vision2020] RE: wake up call

[Donovan Arnold]

Tami,

Sorry you are  confused. Almost every professional journal on disabilities 
and State run site in the country uses the medical term "Mental 
Retardation".

Cognitively Impaired is a general term. If is like calling a banana a fruit. 
It is correct, but the person doesn't know if you are referring to a banana 
or an apple.

Cognitively impaired does not mean the person has a low IQ. People with 
Autism all have cognitive impairments but range in IQ from 35 to genius. 
Same with people with traumatic head injury. They are cognitively impaired. 
In effect, everyone has some level of cognitive impairment, so you cannot 
use that term and communicate anything meaningful in the medical sense.

If you use that term, medical professionals and support staff have no idea 
what the capabilities are of the individual and thus will not know what 
services they may need.  Mental retardation is a medical term used to 
describe someone who has a low IQ, usually below 70 on the WISC. If you were 
to read many medical records and IEPs you would find the terms "severely 
mentally retarded", "Mentally Retarded", "Mildly Retard" and "Profoundly 
Mentally Retarded" in about 2-3% of the population. This is legal 
documentation used by doctors, both medical and psychology. Perhaps you are 
confused with the derogatory term "retard". This is a term used to hurt 
people, bully a person, and I strongly disagree with this type of behavior.

I am sorry you are offended by the term and relate it to those that have 
used a similar term for less than noble purposes.  Nobody should ever call 
any individual person retarded. People are not a term or a label. But a 
person can suffer from mental retardation and so doctors and support staff 
know how to help them when that term is recorded and they can read it.

The top people in the field of special education also use the term, 
including Deborah Smith, PhD., from Vanderbilt University.

Again, if you don't like the term, talk to the DSM-IV and all these 
professional journals that not only use the term, but often adopt it as part 
of their title. I only use the term because that is the proper term to use 
as I am taught in all of my classes and in the professional articles I read. 
I could use fruit when I mean banana, but you wouldn't know if I meant 
apple.

I hope that makes sense to you, If not, talk to a medical doctor or a 
psychologist.

Or click on one of these links:

http://www.aamr.org/
http://consolidation.mhmr.state.tx.us/
http://mass.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=eohhs2agencylanding&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Government&L2=Departments+and+Divisions&L3=Department+of+Mental+Retardation&sid=Eeohhs2
http://www.omr.state.ny.us/
http://www.dmhmrsas.state.va.us/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/jablonski/syndrome_title.html
http://aamr.allenpress.com/aamronline/?request=get-archive
http://www.dmr.state.ct.us/
http://odmrdd.state.oh.us/
http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/birth_defect/mental_retardation.html
http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/sped/projects/ose/categories/mr.html
http://www.psychiatry.com/mr/
http://www.councilonmr.org/
http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic605.htm
http://www.medem.com/medlb/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ9YQTMBAC&sub_cat=543

I can get you more, or any information on this subject you like.

Take Care,

Donovan J Arnold