A Special Olympian with Down syndrome has penned a touching open letter protesting against the use of the word “retard” as an insult.
US political commentator Ann Coulter provoked a barrage of criticism when she called Barack Obama a “retard” during the third presidential debate yesterday.
“I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard,” Coulter tweeted.
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The comment offended thousands but it was the compelling response of 30-year-old athlete John Franklin Stephens that went viral, reaching far more people worldwide than the initial tweet.
“Come on Ms Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow, so why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?” Stephens wrote on the Special Olympics website.
“I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you.”
Stephens says he spent several hours trying to understand what Coulter meant by her comment, before concluding that she was trying to insult him and everyone like him.
He went on to suggest that Coulter and others who casually use the word “retard” visit the Special Olympics to see just how inspiring people with mental disabilities are.
“After I saw your tweet, I realised you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me,” he wrote. “You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
“Well, Ms Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honour.
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“No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much. Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.”
To read Stephens’ full letter, visit the Special Olympics blog.
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