Finally, Members of Congress See the Light

No sooner had I considered that someone in a political office needed to be vocal for those with special needs that I read about Rosa’s Law (U.S. Senate Bill 2781) where Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Michael Enzi (R- WY) have co-sponsored the bipartisan bill to replace the words “mental retardation” with the words “intellectual disability” in all federal health, education and labor laws. 

“Retarded” is a medical term that has been transformed into a degrading and demeaning term as we’ve noted in this blog before.  Removing it from lingo in laws and hopefully, eventually textbooks and education curriculum is just the stepping stone needed to take action on removal of that term from the vocabularies of people across this country. 

To date, 26 senators have signed on to co-sponsor the bill.  If your senator is a co-sponsor, send them a note of thanks for co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation.  If you happen see that your senator is not listed, please take the time to contact your representative to request that he or she sign on in support.  Though ARC Marion is not a member of the organization, the Arc of the United States has made it an easy process if you simply enter your zip code on their site.  You can send an email or print a letter to send to your senators today.  I know I just did, and from experience, I chose to mail a letter to Sen. Nelson (his email system is a joke!)

Thank you for taking the time to help those who often don’t have a voice in the fight.  And thank you to Sen. Mikulski and Sen. Enzi for bridging the gap, crossing the aisle and advocating for those with special needs.  We applaud you for seeing the light!