It isn’t always voluntary. It isn’t something you about. By now, it may be burned into you vocabulary. The word “retard” has been adopted by popular culture as synonymous with words such as dumb or stupid, but the “r-word” can also be harmful.

Best Buddies, an international organization that advocates for people with intellectual disabilities, has helped gain equal opportunities and understanding for an estimated 250,000 people each year.

The Grand Valley State University Best Buddies chapter, along with the Grand Valley Disability Advocates and Alpha Sigma Alpha, will sponsor the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign on the GVSU campus beginning March 14. The event is intended to raise discussions about the negative repercussions of the “r-word” and begin to remove it from everyday language.

“Painful stereotypes dehumanize people with intellectual disabilities, usually in a fleeting casual way,” said Laura Berry, president of the GVSU Best Buddies chapter. “When a person with an intellectual disability overhears or sees movies like ‘Tropic Thunder’ depicting a ‘retard’ in a comical way, it hurts to their core.”

Hollywood films, including “Tropic Thunder,” “Anger Management” and “The Hangover,” have all made references to the term, each one used as an insult or derogatory remark. Advocacy groups went after “Tropic Thunder” for its use of the word.

“The ‘r-word’ is very similar to the ‘n-word,’” Berry said. “The derogatory effects of the ‘n-word’ were at one time cuffed off, and the word was used casually. It was not until a group of people stood up for themselves that the word became shameful to use.”

In 2004, the Special Olympics International Board of Directors lobbied to have the medical term “mental retardation” changed to “intellectual disabilities” and subsequently launched a website in 2008 to advocate for the removal of the terminology from common usage.

Two college students continued the advocacy campaign with Spread the Word, which started March of 2009 at Notre Dame University. Since then, almost all of the 1,500 Best Buddies chapters have sponsored a similar event. Currently, more than 150,000 people have made an online pledge to the website www.r-word.org to stop using the word, and they urge others to do the same.

During the event on campus, students are encouraged to sign the large banner the campaigners will have on their table in the Kirkhof Center, to wear buttons pledging their support to stop using the word and to encourage friends and family to do the same.

“The best thing students can do is talk to their friends about the harmful effects and create a national conversation that has the power to change every person’s mindset,” Berry said.

The main event of the week will feature speakers from Grand Valley Disability Services, the Special Olympics and Best Buddies to rally support for their cause. The discussion will take place at 9 p.m. on March 17 in the Pere Marquette Room of Kirkhof Center.

While some are quick to say that they do not use the word in the company of those with mental disabilities, the “r-word” can still be harmful to those who know someone with one.

“You never know who has a brother or a friend with a disability,” said Karen Hain, a GVSU student.

While the word may seem harmless, Berry said the word does emotional harm to “the most vulnerable population in our society.”

“The ‘r-word’ is used against such a vulnerable population that they need our help to spread the word to end the word,” she said.

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