Erie Homes for Children and Adults (EHCA) Celebrates Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in March By Doing Our Part to ‘End the Word’
(ERIE, PA—March 2011)—March is National Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. This year, a campaign is sweeping across the nation: Spread the Word to the End the Word. At Erie Homes for Children and Adults (EHCA), we want to do our part to remind everyone locally to not use the R-word (‘retard’, ‘retarded’) in a derogatory manner anymore.
The Special Olympics launched the Web site, www.r-word.org, to help Spread the Word to End the Word. On their site, they explain:
When they were originally introduced, the terms “mental retardation” or “mentally retarded” were medical terms with a specifically clinical connotation; however, the pejorative forms, “retard” and “retarded” have been used widely in today’s society to degrade and insult people with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, when “retard” and “retarded” are used as synonyms for “dumb” or “stupid” by people without disabilities, it only reinforces painful stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities being less valued members of humanity.
At EHCA, we serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities; our mission is to assist people with disabilities to live rich and fulfilling lives. Through 9 programs, including residential and community-based services, EHCA improves the lives of more than 290 people and their families every day across Erie, Crawford, Venango, and Potter counties.
“We feel that in order to give people with intellectual disabilities full, enriched lives, we also have to take responsibility in changing the perceptions of the communities where we live,” says Paul Carpenedo, executive director of EHCA. “We want to be catalysts for this movement in this region, because if affects those we serve.”
On October 5, 2010, President Obama officially signed “Rosa’s Law”, named after a 9-year-old girl with an intellectual disability. This new law replaces the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from federal health, education and labor policy with the terms “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability”.
“At EHCA, we serve some of the community’s most medically fragile individuals with disabilities,” says Carpenedo. “But we continue to believe that everyone should have opportunities to reach their full potential and become contributing members of society. By breaking through the stereotypes, we can make positive waves of change for those we serve.”
The mission of EHCA is to assist people with disabilities to live rich and fulfilling lives by providing quality, comprehensive and accessible residential and community-based services for children and adults with developmental disabilities throughout Erie, Crawford, Venango, and Potter Counties. Since 1912, EHCA has been caring for local individuals and striving to help everyone served reach their full potential. For more information, visit www.ehca.org.