‘R-Word’ Remark Prompts Emanuel To Meet With Disability Advocates
By Michelle DiamentWhite House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will meet with a group of disability advocates Wednesday, more than a week after a media report quoted him using the word “retarded.”
The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss “the suffering and pain of people with intellectual disabilities that is perpetuated by the use of the terms ‘retard’ and ‘retarded,’” according to a statement from Special Olympics.
Special Olympics CEO Tim Shriver and Andrew Imparato of the American Association of People with Disabilities were invited to the White House meeting along with two self-advocates and a parent advocate. They intend to ask Emanuel to become involved in Special Olympics’ campaign to “Spread the Word to End the Word.”
The meeting is the culmination of a week of back and forth after a report in The Wall Street Journal quoted Emanuel using the phrase “f—ing retarded” at a gathering of liberal groups and White House aides in August.
Read More at Disabilityscoop.
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