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So what do people do when they hear mentally challenged? They translate to retarded in their head and any stigma they had attached or accepted is dragged along to the new phrase.
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I disagree with this. Words have power and the words we choose to use carry multiple connotations. The word 'retard' carries connotations beyond the mental capacity of the person being described. It carries connotations of being stunted, of something preventing that person from becoming complete.
It's also a fuck of a lot harder to turn the phrase 'learning disabled' into a catchy insult to throw across a playground. People still use the word retard as an insult. But now the doctors and teachers and other people in official capacities aren't sharing the same word that the bullies in the playground are using.