More than a Word | More than a Day || Spread the Word to End the Word enters Year 10
By: Soeren Palumbo
Tags: Education, Advocacy, Respect, Equality, Special Olympics

Today marks the 10th annual Spread the Word to End the Word day of activation and engagement for respect, inclusion, and an elimination of the hurtful use of the word “retard(ed).” Since 2009, the campaign has grown from an idea of a few kids to a movement with participants in over 80 countries, 5,000+ schools, workplaces, and communities.

We launched Spread the Word to End the Word in 2009 with a vision for inclusion, a belief in youth leadership, and our hands in our pockets

Honestly, we didn’t imagine Spread the Word to End the Word would make it to 10 years — public engagement campaigns come and go, let alone those led by high school and college students. And, our 20-year-old audacity (or impatience) probably had us convinced us that we’d have this ages-old stigma solved by now. The campaign’s longevity has shown the resonance of the issue, the stubbornness of the stigma that underlies it, and the power of the young people that have taken up its leadership in communities around the globe.

It also shows something we’ve suspected all along — that Inclusion is the issue of our time. Indeed, we are struggling with a basic question: who are we? Who is part of “we” and who isn’t? In our public and private discourse — in classrooms, public chambers, and dinner tables — we’re struggling with this. Perhaps the closer the world draws together, the more urgent these questions become. Who does your “we” include? People who look different? People who speak differently? People who think differently? As “we” make “our” plans for today and beyond, who is included? Who isn’t?

Our generation — and likely the one preceding and succeeding us — will be defined by the answers to these questions. When we met difference and the instinctive fear it carries, did we succumb or overcome? Did we foster apathy, antipathy, or empathy? Did we choose to include or exclude?

What did you choose: to include or exclude?

We (in a large sense of the word, maybe even a ‘planet Earth’ sense) make these decisions every day, whether we intend to or not. With our actions and our in-actions, what we say and leave unsaid, we make the world a more welcoming and inclusive place for others or a more isolating and excluding place. None of us has a neutral effect on inclusion.

In our work, we’ve thought a lot about the impact that words have on inclusion and here’s what we’ve found: Words of inclusion can’t alone create inclusion. But exclusive words alone can create exclusion. Put different, words of inclusion are necessary but not sufficient to create inclusion. But excluding words are often all that is needed to communicate exclusion. Does anyone think that the N-word, C-word, F-word, or R-word do not create exclusion? But inclusion needs more; inclusion requires encounter, acceptance, shared experience, shared dignity. Exclusion can be achieved with words alone — but inclusion is about more than words. Inclusion is about words, and then more.

As with so many things, the 2018 state of affairs for inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) is a swirl of horror and hope. In parts of the world, people with IDD are chained to the walls of their family homes and, globally, studies suggest that only ~5% of children with any disability attend and complete primary school. And even in ostensibly integrated settings, people with IDD are often left behind and left alone. Online, in a study of 50 million social media posts about people with IDD, over 2/3 were negative and nearly 60% contained a slur (either the R-word or other words combined with “-tard”). In shared spaces physical and digital, the actions and words of the crowd have shown clearly a choice of exclude over include.

But there is hope — in thousands of schools and clubs in over 130 countries, young people with and without IDD are coming together in inclusive, Special Olympics Unified sports. In thousands more, shared friendship between youth with and without IDD blossoms in Best Buddies. Entering our 10th year, of Spread the Word to End the Word, some schools have even preferred to drop the focus on the R-word for fear that it would introduce the word to the student environment, opting instead for a “Respect” campaign to show welcome and dignity to all students, including those with IDD.