Spread the Word to End the Word

The campaign and its slogan “Spread the Word to End the Word” are based on the belief that education and awareness are the key to achieving the goal of abolishing the R-word as hate language.

Special Olympics is one of the main advocators of the campaign. SSS has been working alongside the Special Olympics community in Kirksville for a while to bring this campaign to KHS.

Each day of the campaign, SSS members sat in the KHS cafeteria to encourage students and faculty to make the same pledge that is on the campaign’s website, “support the elimination of the derogatory use of the r-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.”

Approximately one-hundred and fifty people at KHS took the pledge and signed the banner. Many of the people who signed the banner also decided to place their thumbprint on the banner using an ink pad.

The majority of the education and campaigning begin in schools. Kirksville High School is but a small part of this very large movement.

“Thousands of college campuses, high schools, middle schools and elementary schools have launched campaigns in their communities. More than 650,000 people have now taken the pledge to end the use of the R-word, both online and on petitions and posters,” according to www.r-word.org.

The “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign, however, is going beyond taking the pledge. Many are taking a stand to define the derogatory use of the R-word as hate language.

“The F/X network now includes the R-word as one of three words that are not allowed to be broadcast. MTV has also embraced the campaign by bleeping out the R-word just like any other curse word or slur in shows like ‘The Real World’ and ‘Teen Mom,’” according to www.r-word.org.

The campaign is inspiring people not to just discontinue the use of the r-word, but also to change the way they see and think of people with disabilities.