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I wanted to share a personal experience with my own life. As a young person, I went to a segregated school in Marin County. I would leave very early in the morning and ride a school bus that was wheelchair accessible. The bus happened to be smaller than the conventional buses that people without disabilities used. The neighborhood kids referred to it as the "little yellow retard bus." As a young child, this phrase was devastating to me as a person and to my self-esteem causing me great humiliation. I began to believe that there was - indeed - something wrong with me. Many people don't know that I also have a learning disability. I have had great difficulties in the area of math and spelling. As a child struggling through school, periodically other kids would witness my difficulty in certain subjects and often refer to me as a "retard."
This derogatory word has been thrown around for years and accepted by the general public without concern of what the significance can really do to someone. Already, "full on retard" is being used in the community, not only by children but adults as well. And they think it's such a cool phrase!
It's an outrage that Ben Stiller excuses the movie's content because "it's a free country" but in my opinion freedom is about civil rights and respect and equality, not insulting a whole group of people who have been sidelined for far too long. All of us who are disabled participate in the community with meaningful accomplishments. Movies that have been produced that are similar to Tropic Thunder have no place in society, not to mention the entertainment industry, which has significant power to bend public opinion and I think has a duty to ensure that they use this power to benefit society and not harm it.
Peter is an advocate for people with intellectual disabilities