Has anyone called you the big R word?

Post Reply New Topic

I'm sure you all know what the word is, ret*d! have any of you been called that? I was called that a few times. The first time I was in 4th grade and a student in my art class asked me,"Are you ret*d?" and I was like,"I don't know what that means." So then of course she said,"Then you are." OK so I was in 7th grade and had never heard the word before in my life. So when I found out what it mean I was very angry that someone would call me that.

OK so the last time someone called me that was about 2 or 3 years ago, and this really makes me mad because the person never said it to my face, not only that, it was a grown adult that called me that, a GROWN ADULT! I mean really! The witch had the freaking nerve to talk a bunch of crap to my cousins(her grandsons) talking s**t about me and my grandma. She told them that my grandma is a slob and that I am nothing but a ret*d. My cousins told my aunt about this a they were so unset that they were crying! When my dad found out what she said he got very angry ans started shouting that she is the one that is a ret*d. What to know the worst thing about the women that said that stuff? She is a social worker! That right's, A SOCIAL WORKER! She freaking works with autistic people and she has the nerve to call me a ret*d!

Has anything like this happened to everyone here?

I've been called that word by my peers all through elementary school. Those memories are very painful.

Luckily, I never had anyone call me a ret*d. I was busy in school trying to run away from names that were way worst than that. And a social worker!?! What the hell. Goes to show you that some people will never grow up, even when they are in jobs where they have to be a grown up.

I'm guilty of calling people ret*d far more than I've ever been called a ret*d.

geez...

I have been called that before but only once or twice do I think the person might have actually thought so and was not just using it as an empty insult. A senior used to pick on me when I was a freshman. He would always try to confuse me by telling me lies and try to get me to high five him after which he would move his hand and laugh... I never understood how I was supposed to reply to his insults or name-calling so I usually didn't say anything, or sometimes I would say the wrong thing not realizing that I was making myself look stupid. I am not called ret*d a lot but one name I am called by many people, especially young teens around where I live is "alien." I used to hear that all the time.

My ex boyfriend on several occasions. I'm pretty sure he got a kick out of me resembling an Asian girl character from one of his favorite films "Donnie Darko" (which seems to portray her as possibly mentally ret*d when she says her one line in the film "chut up"). When he became moderator of a forum I was one, his first act for humor sake was to replace my avatar with gif of a fat man who obviously was you know. He also changed my gender to male and my signature to something like "durrrr" or something stupid that people would think one who is ret*d would say. Now granted this was a forum for a sketch comedy show we were all on and I've learned my lesson to never get involved in clubs your ex is in even if your interests have nothing to do with your ex. Which was true at the time. I thought the show he was in was pretty cool so I joined. Stupid me.

Anyway, my mom and I had a heated recently argument about my AS (which she knows nothing about) and got frustrated with not understanding why I had trouble finding work and she was like "why are you ret*d?"

And my apologies to actually using the word for anyone who's offended.

The first time was in grade school, I forget which year. It happened often enough, though.

It didn't really happen from high school until a couple of months ago, when my niece decided to call me "ret*d" because she had plugged the DSL modem in backwards and I corrected it. The knowledge that I had done this was apparently unbearable to her. Also, my sister had told her about my diagnosis, and neither of them has the slightest idea what the diagnosis means.

yeah i think most days or everyday in school in 7th grade. sometimes in 4th and maybe in 8th. but 5th and 6th i wasnt in school.

People have called me ret*d or stupid before. Even the teachers and not just the students. The thing is though they are close to being right! I have an IQ of just 82. 70 and below is considered mental retardation.

Ironically, the people who called me that were rather dim witted themselves and threw the word around as their choice adjective on a regular basis. I just happened to be in their line of fire that day. Some people gravitate toward that word's usage. I have no idea why. Maybe they feel controversial while using it?

I've mostly gotten people just assuming I am, and acting in this really annoying patronizing way, like I'm not an equal.

It's not the mistaken identity that annoys me. It's just that if they treat me like that, then they evidently think that ret*d people are not quite as good--or at best cute, childish, and generally not as competent--as everybody else. That, I find highly annoying.

Another thing I find highly annoying is the way people who are autistic but not mentally ret*d insist on having this distinction made. I mean, sure, if you're not developmentally delayed then there's no reason to put you in that particular category; so it's a factual error, but people react to it much more strongly than a simple factual error deserves. It's like they think if someone calls them ret*d that's an automatic insult. Actually, it's quite similar to the way that other factual errors have become insults: Calling someone "gay" when they are not, or calling a man "a girl" or "a woman", or calling someone "Grandma" when they are not actually a grandmother.

I think it is not the word "ret*d" that should be offensive. I don't find it offensive myself. What I do think needs to stop is people thinking that it is suitable as an insult as though it were a self-evidently shameful thing to be ret*d, rather than a medical diagnosis that can apply to people who are slower at learning. Avoiding words like "ret*d" as though they were magical incantations that would summon the bogeyman is not the way to do that.

I used to get that all of the time. I went to school long before there were any autism programs. I'd fight earlier on but I would get in trouble. I learned to excel in tests and quiz contests as well as learn the academic shortcomings of my tormenters. When one of them started calling me, "ret*d," I would say, "and this comes from someone who can't even read?" I would also make a point in beating them at academic contests, and remind them every time they would call me that. I once heard one of them lament, "wow, beaten by a ret*d." That made me feel good. They still thought I was ret*d, but I still brought their ego down to size. After a while, I never heard the "R" word again.

Since I brought it up as a factual error my niece applied to me because she was mad about something pointless:

I didn't make a big deal about it. I just told her that made no sense.