Guest Blogger Terry Walsh has worked at Hyde for twenty years having started on the Bath, ME campus. Terry is Director of Studies and teaches, coaches, and leads a Discovery Group. He shares his perspective and experience as a brother to a special needs brother and father of Liam, who is also special needs.  Terry serves locally as President of the Friends of Camp Quinebaug, which provides summer programming for the Northeast CT special needs community. 

“Retard! Simpleton! The short bus!” Words that hurt under any circumstance. In today’s society we have overcome many unacceptable obstacles to growth as Americans. Even with improvements, racism remains a prevalent issue that needs to be challenged. Civil Rights as well as equal rights for women have made many, many strides over my thirty-eight years. The last holdout for inequality is clearly within the special needs community.

Unlike the issues confronted by Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement, those in the special needs community rarely can stand up for themselves. Their voice comes from others willing to take the time to demand more from society. Looking back at what my mother had to fight for to see that my brother received a decent education was heartbreaking to remember – this coming ten years after the Civil Rights Act. Today to hear about school districts avoiding their responsibility in properly educating the disadvantaged is deplorable, but there is little outrage. Why should people treat special needs individuals with respect when our local agencies shirk their responsibilities? This lack of respect continues to invade other parts of society.

In today’s society it is still acceptable to blurt out “retard” or “you’re such a retard” with little thought to who might be offended. It has shown up in movies such Tropic Thunder and even in our nation’s capital. The Wall Street Journal recently discovered information surrounding the controversial debate on Health Care when in August, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel got upset with several members of the Democratic leadership and called them “f***ing retards!” for not supporting the Health Care Bill. Regardless of your political view use of that word is out of bounds. Even your most blatant racist would whisper a racial joke so as to not be confronted by people within ear shot; unfortunately this is not true when it comes to dealing with the special needs crowd.

When will society truly embrace Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” and his vision of hope that his children be judged “not by the color of their skin, (add ‘or the development of their knowledge’) but by the content of their character”? Until that time I will continue to teach others.