When a Word Becomes an Insult

There was a time, not so many years ago, when "retarded" was a word used to diagnose people with IQs below a certain number. "Gay" used to simply mean homosexual. And now it seems the word "autistic" has joined the ranks of those words, which are now considered insults.

I personally do not use the word retarded in the clinical or derogatory sense. I wish nobody did, but they do. It hasn't reached the social unacceptability of "the N word," but it's getting there. I'm going to share an open letter from Holly Robinson Peete to rapper 50 Cent, who publicly called someone "autistic" in attempts to insult them. I wonder how Mr. Cent would feel if we all started saying, "You are so 50 Cent" when we wanted to mean that someone was ignorant?

Here's the letter: July 3, 2012

Dear 50 Cent,

Since last night my twitter timeline is flooded with tweets and retweets about a response you posted to someone who insulted you. When I read it my heart sank. I thought maybe your account had been hacked. No such luck. Granted, his comment was completely out of line but your retort: “i just saw your picture fool you look autistic”- was so so disappointing. I mean, that’s your comeback?? And you didn’t stop there. You went on to joke about not wanting “special ed kids” on your timeline. Seriously, THIS is how you use your platform of 8 million plus followers??

I’ve met you in passing over the years and I know you are a bright, astute businessman and legitimate philanthropist so it is with a bit of sincere confusion that I ask you… Do you even know what autism is? And what exactly does “autistic” look like? Do you know how wildly prevalent autism is? 1 in 88 have it. That’s 1 in 54 boys. Families suffer a social stigma you will never know. It is a financial and emotional drain for millions, so our non-profit- HollyRod Foundation works hard to raise funds to help these families cope…

I hope you can see how what you might see as a benign insult-or not- was so randomly hurtful, immature and misinformed. Maybe you are naive or indifferent as to how many of your fans might be deeply and personally offended by your insult. At the very least-can you please delete it? If you’ve read your mentions today I am sure you have felt the wrath of autism parents. We are no joke. Neither is autism. We are not about to let you attempt to make “autistic” the new “R-word” under our watch.

Finally, this is my son Rodney Peete. He has autism. So I guess this is what autistic looks like? He is in special ed. He loves rap music and is a HUGE fan of yours. He’s a tremendous kid. He has to deal with so much trying to fit in. This isn’t helping.

Sincerely,

Holly Robinson Peete