President Obama Signs Rosa's Law!

Today, I attended a reception at the White House with Special Olympics athletes to celebrate the enactment of Rosa’s Law. The bill’s passage is a huge victory for everyone, not just people with intellectual disabilities, as it acknowledges the power of words to separate, alienate, and ultimately dehumanize people when they are categorized as ‘other.’ While we still have so far to go in eliminating the use of the r-word in society and in showing others the extent to which demeaning language can hurt, we celebrate this tremendous milestone.

While some might scoff at this change as mere political correctness, I wish you could have been at the reception with these Special Olympics athletes and have heard their many stories of pain and isolation that resulted from the use of demeaning language. Although you couldn’t be there today to hear it from the athletes themselves, so many others have articulated the hurt and isolation they have experienced, including Special Olympics Global Messenger Frank Stephens:

"So, what's wrong with "retard"? I can only tell you what it means to me and people like me when we hear it. It means that the rest of you are excluding us from your group. We are something that is not like you and something that none of you would ever want to be. We are something outside the "in" group. We are someone that is not your kind."

Today is one victory in an ongoing battle and we ask you to join us March 2, 2011 to Spread the Word to End the Word.

Rosa's Law is a Good First Step

Over the past two years, youth activists within the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign have secured nearly 140,000 online pledges from schools and communities across the country, setting off a national conversation about humiliating speech and the language of discrimination. It is not hard to see the fingerprints of thousands of youth activists, so athletes, and the families and communities on the passage of Rosa's Law this week, which is now on its way to the President for his signature.

I know I join millions of Americans in hoping for a quick signature by the President, and I also join them in recognizing that changing statutory language is not the end. The debate over language is only an opening to a discussion about attitude change and authentic inclusion. Our part at Special Olympics is promoting unity on the playing field and in communities through sport. We're committed to engaging millions more in the U.S. and around the world.

Critics who say that changing words can not solve problems are right. But it's a good start.

Congratulations to Senators Barbara Mikulski and Michael Enzi, and all the 72 co-sponsors across party lines, on this important accomplishment. Rosa's law is an historic triumph of self-advocacy and youth advocacy on behalf of our country's most vulnerable. This may be a first, but it won't be the last!