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Arc and Offensive Terms Stripped from IL Law BooksThis is one piece of

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Arc and Offensive Terms Stripped from IL Law Books

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The Arc of Illinois

The Arc of Illinois is a state chapter of The Arc

of the United States. The Arc of Illinois is committed to empowering persons

with disabilities to achieve full participation in community life through

informed choices.

Leaders in The Arc:

The Governor has signed SB 1833 into law. The new

law removes " mental retardation " and " mentally retarded " from Illinois statutes

and replaces them with " intellectual disability " . It also removes the term

" crippled " from statutes. This was The Arc’s HB 2976 before we decided to go

along with SB 1833, which made additional changes that we supported. Sponsors

were Sen. Matt (R-Palatine) and Rep. McAsey (D-Lockport).

We appreciate the good work that Kerry Lavelle did

on this bill and the Alliance for their testimony in the Capitol.

Tony auski

The Arc of Illinois

815-464-1832

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110728/news/707289704/

Offensive terms stripped from Illinois law books

By Mike Riopell

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois' law books will soon be

free of some terminology offensive to the disabled as part of a plan pushed by a

Palatine-based attorney and signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday.

Attorney Kerry Lavelle has said he asked Sen. Matt

to carry the legislation because certain off-color terms for the disabled

leave him “fuming.â€

His sister, , has a disability and resides

at Mount St. ph, an immediate care facility in Lake Zurich.

The new law removes from state statute books

phrases like “mentally retarded†and substitutes “intellectually

disabled.†Similarly, it replaces “crippled†with “physically

disabled.â€

Talking about the plan earlier this year, Lavelle

said changing the law books was just one step toward trying to eliminate the

terms throughout language.

“These are two very archaic, bad, nondescriptive

words,†he said then.

Quinn signed the plan into law Thursday along with

dozens of other proposals.

“Language is one of our most important tools,

and we must be aware of how the words we choose impact others,†Quinn

spokeswoman Annie said. “Just as words that denigrate and marginalize

others should not be used in daily conversations, they should not be used in our

laws.â€

, a Palatine Republican who sponsored the

plan in the Senate, said he was glad to hear Quinn signed off.

“These are the laws of all the people of

Illinois,†he said.

The idea behind the 623-page piece of legislation

isn't unique to Illinois. Several states have already made similar changes.

Last year, President Barack Obama signed “'s

Law†to remove similar terms from federal law.

Copyright © \2011\ Paddock Publications, Inc. All

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