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Do IT this week: Layering
Statewide law requires agencies to stop using 'mental retardation'
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Jul 12, 2009
Chris Brouse has grown numb to the word ''retarded.''
Still, the 24-year-old Barberton man with a developmental disability considers the word an insult, ''one that should not be used.''
Now the state agrees.
A new Ohio law says the state-level agency and county boards serving those with developmental disabilities must delete the words ''mental retardation'' from their names.
''It's a good thing. Times change,'' said Patrick Macke, superintendent of the Portage County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
''Mental retardation is actually a type of developmental disability, so it was almost redundant,'' said Medina County MRDD board spokeswoman Lynee Bixler, echoing those at other agencies.
Area board officials say the cost of deleting the term will be minimal.
The law gives agencies 90 days — until Oct. 5 — to drop ''mental retardation'' from their names.
The law does not set a deadline for changing signs and using up printed materials, such as stationery and pamphlets.
''It's not like we're throwing out things,'' Bixler said.
Summit County MRDD board spokesman Kevin McGee said the changes ''will be made in a cost-efficient way and as it makes sense.''
Decals probably will be used to cover the term on posters, he said.
High-visibility signs might be changed soon, he said, but other signs might be changed only as part of a repair or when their condition warrants replacement.
In Wayne County, no signs include ''mental retardation,'' MRDD board Superintendent John Tooley said.
''Historically, we've been known as the Ida Sue School or the Nick Amster Workshop,'' he said.
In Stark County, the MRDD board might drop more than the term from its name.
Stark MRDD interim spokeswoman Lisa Parramore said some Ohio county boards go by a name that doesn't even include ''developmental disabilities.''
In Richland County, in central Ohio, the board is called Newhope.
''We're looking at all options for rebranding our agency,'' Parramore said. Any rebranding ''would be done on a minimal budget.''
About 10 Ohio counties had shed the term before Gov. Ted Strickland signed the law Tuesday.
The state-level MRDD department officially will drop the term beginning Oct. 5.
On Friday, an operator was answering the phone ''Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.''
Ohio MRDD spokeswoman Sherry Steinman said the department had no estimate on the cost of the name change at the state level.
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.
Chris Brouse has grown numb to the word ''retarded.''
Get the full article here.
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