Special Olympics Campaign “End the Word” Gets Help From the NBA

posted on Mar 18 by Snow in the Advocacy, Disability News category

As many individuals with disabilities know, certain words can be terribly hurtful. That’s why the Special Olympics started the campaign “Spread the Word to End the Word” in 2004. This campaign seeks to eliminate the common use of the word “retarded” and raise awareness about how damaging use of the “R-word” can be for individuals with cognitive and intellectual disabilities.

The “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign has garnered support from many different celebrities and national organizations. Supporters of the campaign are spreading the word through events, videos and on social media sites like Facebook, as well as getting celebrities to spread the word on Twitter.

Popular actor John C. McGinley from the television show “Scrubs” told the Daily News, “Most people don’t think of this word as the language of hate, but that’s exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends.”

One group that’s a strong supporter of both the Special Olympics and this campaign is the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA is helping out the Special Olympics with their campaign. The NBA has been a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics by filming public service announcements with basketball stars, sponsoring basketball tournaments and having popular basketball players at Special Olympics events.

According to an article on NBA.com, Sam Perkins, 17 year NBA player who is on the Special Olympics international board of directors, “is passionate about promoting acceptance for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” Perkins told NBA.com, “The word retard doesn’t even belong in anyone’s vocabulary, when it comes to talking about people who are affected with mental disabilities. We just can’t allow it.”

According to Sport News, Perkins participated in a Special Olympics clinic in February to raise awareness of the “End the Word” campaign with other athletes, including “Tim Duncan, Shannon Brown, Darryl Dawkins and more than 60 athletes from Special Olympics Southern California.”

 

Sources:

http://r-word.org

http://muirett.com/nba-supports-special-olympics-in-bid-to-end-the-word/

http://sports.forum1000.com/soccer/nba-chips-into-special-olympics-campaign-to-end-the-word-nba-com-soccer.html

http://disabilitiesnews.blogspot.com/2011/03/nba-helps-spread-word-to-end-word.html

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/03/02/spread-the-word/