Australia:  It's time to stop using the 'R' word

"Retarded" is still relatively freely used in Australia

“What are you Fucking Retarded?”, ran one of the punchlines on Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, which screened on the ABC on April 2. As the crowd laughed uproariously at the suggestion that the well-known comedian may be mentally disabled, the hearts of family, friends, carers, and colleagues of anybody with a disability, and most importantly any viewer with a disability themselves, collectively sank.

Those concerned with issue of disability will be totally unsurprised that a prime time television show on the state broadcaster ran this joke. Use of the ‘R’ word is pervasive in Australian media and amongst the broader public. It is equally unsurprising that at no point in the production of the episode did it occur to any of the cast or crew that they were broadcasting an offensive word, with demeaning and slanderous imputations directed at people with disabilities. The fact of the matter is that the use of the word ‘retarded’ to describe anything stupid, unappealing, uncoordinated, ill-conceived, or simply bad, is utterly ingrained in the Australian vernacular.

The problem is, of course, not exclusive to the state broadcaster. In an article celebrating ‘cricketing insults to aspire to’ in November last year The Age sports editor placed a sledge that amounts to ‘your kids are retarded’ at the top of the list. What a feel-good read that was for parents of children with disabilities. The examples are plentiful and they often fly under the radar of all but the people directly affected by them.

Whether it be on the street or in the media it is unthinkingly permitted to demean those of us who are least deserving of rancour with a throwaway comment or witless insult.

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