MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A pair of Republican state senators are pushing to remove the phrase “mental retardation” from state administrative code.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and state Rep. John Jagler announced Tuesday that they’ll introduce legislation to remove the term “mental retardation” and all its derivatives from code and replace it with the phrase “intellectual disability.”
The bill mirrors legislation former Gov. Scott Walker signed in 2012 that removed “mental retardation” from state statute and replaced it with “intellectual disability.”
Jagler’s daughter has Down syndrome. He says in a news release that he knows how hurtful what he calls the “R-word” can be. Fitzgerald says people with intellectual disabilities and their loved ones find the “R-word” incredibly offensive.
