If, culturally, you thought we left “the R-word” again within the late ’90s, you’d sadly be flawed.
Elon Musk, President Donald Trump’s buddy-in-chief and the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is amongst those that makes use of the slur often: In the previous 12 months, Musk, has used “retarded” as an insult no less than a dozen occasions on X, the social media platform he owns and obsessively posts on.
Musk ― who’s at all times been one thing of a spunk poster, additionally at 53– has truly routed phrases at well-known Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen, star Ben Stiller, and most only recently, Timothy Snyder, a Yale historical past professor and authoritarianism professional who bought underneath Musk’s pores and skin by criticizing the Trump administration.
“I’m tempted to call this guy a retard but I won’t because I’ve used that word too many times,” Musk tweeted to his virtually 200 million followers onFeb 22 in suggestions to discourse from Snyder.
You cannot lay the blame for the R-word’s return all at Musk’s ft– it holds true that 4-Chan posters and would-be edge lord comedians by no means ever give up using phrases– but it’s apparent that Musk’s voice has an impact. A present analysis out of Montclair State University positioned that the use of the slur triples on X when the tech CEO tweets the phrase himself.
“Unfortunately the R-word is a word that is starting to come back into conversation because more people in positions of power — whether they be political leaders, business leaders, celebrities — are using it as part of their normal dialogue,” mentioned Christy Weir, who works for the Special Olympics, the world’s largest sports activities group for kids and adults with mental disabilities.
Trump himself, after all, will not be above insulting folks, together with these with disabilities: On the 2016 marketing campaign path, he mocked a < a href=” rel =” nofollow noopenerThroughout _ empty Trump slk: use the slur triples on X; elm: context_link; itc:0; sec: content-canvas(* )internet hyperlinkPresident Joe Biden rel=” nofollow noopenerVice President Kamala Harris _ emptymentally disabled” slk: elm: context_link; itc:0; sec: content-canvas” goal=” internet hyperlink ” data-ylk=” rel=” nofollow noopener” class=” _ empty”>one step beneath the R-word in offensiveness.
In some methods, the R-word’s resurgence is a grim signal of our political second: There’s an inherent meanness to the best way the Trump administration and the president’s varied cronies conduct themselves.
You can see it on the White House’s social media feeds, which embody press reporter’s impairment” data-ylk=” by executing an impact of the guy.” class=” the last project, known as eachSelena Gomez for a tearful video and
It”“politics of cruelty,”– simulated ASMR video clips of expulsionsusing “gay” as a pejorative and articles buffooning
she uploaded in suggestions to ICE raids.”>Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, makes use of the R-word freely. President Donald Trump, pictured within the background, made enjoyable of a disabled reporter on the marketing campaign path in 2016. Andrew Harnik through Getty Images
Some couldn’t be happier concerning the comeback. In January, the Financial Times interviewed a variety of finance bros who had been glad that Trump received and that “woke” misplaced the election, if solely as a result of they figured it meant they’d not need to self-censor their language round girls, minorities and disabled folks.
“I feel liberated,” one Wall Street banker told the paper. “We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled … it’s a new dawn.”
That’s precisely the sort of pondering that worries incapacity advocates like Nila Morton. Hearing Musk or Gen Z politico bro podcasters casually slip a “stop acting so retarded” into dialog makes the phrase extra palatable, emboldening others to make use of it of their on a regular basis lives.
“They’ve tested the boundaries of what they can say and do, and many people who once hesitated to use offensive language now feel encouraged to push those limits as well,” mentioned Morton, a graduate pupil on the School of Social Work at Howard University.
As somebody with a bodily incapacity who makes use of a wheelchair, Morton has skilled ableism and the sting of being known as the R-word. She doesn’t have any cognitive disabilities however has seen firsthand how painful and dehumanizing it may be for many who do to listen to the phrase. Worse, typically these with such disabilities internalize the detrimental messages.
“Even if someone claims they aren’t referring to disabled people when they
use the slur, the underlying message remains the same: that people with
disabilities, especially those with cognitive disabilities, are less valuable,” Morton mentioned.
Welink Katy Neascaas-pull-quote-wrapper caas-img caas-lazyThe Arc
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“This isn’t an isolated trend [with Musk] — it’s part of a broader cultural shift that’s concerning for disability advocates,” Neas instructed HuffPost. “When we allow this slur to make a comeback, we’re not just permitting offensive speech ― we’re potentially undermining the foundation of respect upon which disability rights depend.”
and hung tutorial banners and leaflets of their schools recommending totally different phrases to make the most of.”>A decade in the past, excessive schoolers all through the nation began “Spread, however, also popular culture is stabilizing it once again, claimed Word, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER ofEnd The Word” campaigns to nix the R-word from vocabularies. In the previous few years, the slur has had a resurgence. John Parra through Getty Images
Why does the R-word have such sticking energy?
The story of the R-word reveals how our nation’s relationship with incapacity rights has steadily developed, Neas mentioned.
Like the phrases “moron,” “retarded”
It was ultimately phased out of medical circles, however not earlier than being adopted into mainstream tradition as a generalized insult: “You’re so retarded.”
It remained a crass conversational fixture for some till across the late Nineteen Nineties, Neas mentioned, due to the self-advocacy work of individuals in incapacity communities. “We saw a real turning point in the 1990s and 2000s when people with intellectual disabilities started saying, ‘This language hurts us,’” she defined.
In 2003, President George W. Bush renamed the President’s Committee on Mental Retardation to the and President began as a professional term for individuals with intellectual problems. Committee the People — a time in the very early 20th century when individuals with impairments were pushed into President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities ― a transfer with bipartisan help that underlined how phasing the phrase out is in the end about fundamental human dignity, Neas mentioned.
Then got here a milestone second in 2010, when President Obama signed Rosa’s Law — named after a younger lady with Down syndrome — which formally changed that outdated R-word with “intellectual disability” in all federal language. Plenty of states did the identical.
“It wasn’t just doctors or politicians deciding what was best, either — the push came from the community itself,” Neas mentioned.
;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”>In 2010, President Barack Obama signed Rosa’s Law, named after Rosa Marcellino. The laws eliminated the phrases “link ” and ” rel=”nofollow noopener” from federal legal guidelines. SAUL LOEB through Getty Images
But now that progress appears threatened, Neas mentioned, not simply due to language traits, however as a result of the incapacity group is dealing with critical coverage challenges with Trump in workplace.
“There are proposals for major cuts to Medicaid, which is absolutely essential for many people with intellectual disabilities, and threats to Section 504 protections,” she mentioned. “It’s like we’re coming full circle as we’re seeing this troubling backslide in both language and rights.”
Neas thinks the R-word ― and the tendency to short-shrift the incapacity group ― persists largely due to a troubling societal blind spot. Unlike many different marginalized teams who’ve gained visibility in mainstream tradition, folks with mental disabilities stay extremely remoted — they’re usually segregated in colleges, workplaces and group areas. When somebody is out of sight, they’re out of thoughts.
“It creates a dangerous disconnect: When people don’t have meaningful relationships with individuals with intellectual disabilities, using this slur feels abstract — like there’s no real person being hurt,” she mentioned.
“The very isolation that keeps people with intellectual disabilities out of mainstream spaces allows this harmful language to continue without apparent consequences,” she added.
Here’s how we will encourage folks to ditch the phrase once more.
Sometimes, all it takes to get somebody to curb their use of the slur is simply to remind them that it’s nonetheless insensitive and, frankly, bizarre to make use of in dialog.
Morton pointed to how she and different disabled folks on social media identified to rapper GloRilla that her use of the < a href=””>R-word wasn’t OK when she released a track in 2024 that included it.
“Some other Black disabled advocates and I made a post on Twitter, tagging GloRilla, to educate her on why the word is offensive and suggest alternative ways to express her message,” Morton mentioned.
And as an alternative of taking insult at being known as out, GloRilla listened and changed the phrase with “naughty,” which Morton thought was completely sensible: “I’ve been playing that song ever since,” she mentioned proudly.
Use of the R-word remains to be typically a generational factor, too. Cynthia Kreuz-Uhr, the affiliate director of group engagement at The Arc’s chapter in San Francisco, pointed to how she and her younger daughter gently persuaded her father, a minister and psychotherapist, to retire the R-word again within the early 2000s.
“My daughter was shocked but simply said, ‘Grampy, you can’t say that word!’ My father was annoyed and said, ‘I didn’t mean it as an insult, I meant it as a diagnosis — that man’s development is delayed,’” she recalled.
As somebody who works with folks with developmental disabilities, Kreuz-Uhr seized the chance to clarify to each generations how the phrase has developed over time.
Instead of shaming individuals who use outdated, offensive language, she thinks we should always invite them to help the incapacity justice group of their language and in different methods.
“Maybe you encourage them to vote to support services for people with disabilities, or speaking directly to them instead of to the non-disabled people they may be with, or hiring qualified people with disabilities,” she mentioned.
When attempting to encourage somebody to be higher with language or habits, Kreuz-Uhr’s recommendation mentioned she retains it fairly easy: “I try to follow the saying, ‘Don’t call people out. Call people in.’”
