Rick Smith writes a blog called “Noah’s Dad” to raise awareness of Down’s Syndrome.
He was recently shopping on Walmart’s website when he came across a mug that said, “Got retard?”
This is a whole new level of offensive. It is from a third-party seller, JM Holdings LLC, but they shouldn’t have let this crap on their website. They did the right thing by taking it down.
Teresa Holladay, who is also a parent of a child with Down’s Syndrome, found the mug on Amazon. She said:
“If this is what a retard is, what a ‘retard’ looks like, then sign me up times ten! Because I made the conscious decision to keep her, knowing that I was going to have some extra challenges.”
“Just because she’s different doesn’t mean she can’t do anything anybody else can do, and doesn’t mean she should take slack from anybody. I don’t care who it is. She should stand up for herself and that’s what I want to instill in her as her mom…she is the light of my life.”
This is blatantly hurtful to children with disabilities. The “r-word” is no longer considered acceptable to use in this way. They were right to pull this product from their website. Hopefully, that JM Holdings will quit selling it altogether.
Featured image via Twitter.