Guest guest Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 Mongolian Idiot Mongoloid Retarded Mentally disabled Challenged Special Needs Down Syndrome Downie, Downs Trisomie 21 I am sure I have forgotten some. Originally all of these terms had no negative connotation but were simply discriptive. The negative meanings came with time and with use, with people not wanting to have anything to do with " them " . The negative feelings towards our children do not change with the name, sadly enough, but its true. It takes a lot more than a new name to change an attitude. A new name can help, not using an old name can help as well. But it is the attitude that needs changing, not primarily the name. I have seen a lot of change in the years that I worked as a nurse, and even more change since I have had my daughter and been personally confronted with attitudes and names. Things are definitely not what they could be yet, but they are improving. Name or no name, old name or new. Our children are being more and more accepted into normal society, much much more than when I was a child. So I don't worry too much about names. I do worry about attitudes. And I do worry about intolerance in general. Just a bit of history. Gundula, in Germany, where history took a bad turn not too long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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