If you have checked out the web site R-Word.org, they have some wonderful items for sale such as t-shirts and mugs. I purchased a couple of t-shirts for my family. I love wearing them. They are a good quality shirt, the graphics are great, and I love the message on them. I first saw these shirts at a Special Olympics event. I just had to have one.
I was wearing one of my shirts the other day while I was grocery shopping. At the checkout, the clerk saw my shirt. She asked me about it. I started into my regular "speech" about the R-Word. She stopped me part way through. And began telling me her story of her son and his struggles through school. One of the administrators hat the school had called her son retarded. Her son was now twenty. She was devastated. It stayed with her. I saw the hurt in her face. Wasn't there a better way to discuss her son's struggles in school? I think so........
So, I was interested to see that yesterday, the R-Word hit center stage in the media. And a young Special Olympian took it upon himself to educate and advocate. Continue on to read this inspiring young man's words.
Special Olympian with Down Syndrome shames Ann Coulter over calling Obama ‘retard’
The incendiary conservative pundit stood by her use of the slur Tuesday, but John Franklin Stephens challenged her to attend the Special Olympics and leave with an unchanged heart.
CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES
A Special Olympian with Down Syndrome castigated right-wing flamethrower Ann Coulter for calling President Obama a 'retard' after the final presidential debate.
A Special Olympics athlete with Down syndrome has shamed conservative pundit Ann Coulter in an open letter after she called President Obama a “retard” this week.
“Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren't dumb and you aren't shallow,” wrote John Franklin Stephens in a blog post. “So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?”
Stephens, 30, told Coulter that he has “struggled with the public's perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow.”
“I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.”
Coulter used the offensive term when commenting about the final presidential debate on Twitter.
“I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard,” Coulter wrote Monday night.
WILL SCHERMERHORN/SPECIAL OLYMPICS, INC
John Franklin Stephens is a Special Olympics athlete.
Despite widespread outrage about the tweet, Coulter doubled down on her word choice on Tuesday.
“If he's ‘the smartest guy in the room’ it must be one retarded room,” she wrote about Obama.
In his open letter, Stephens wondered whether Coulter had used the word to suggest that President Obama was “bullied as a child by people like you” or that he “has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says.”
“After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me,” he wrote. “You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.”
“Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor,” he said.
Stephens invited Coulter to attend the Special Olympics, challenging her to “walk away with your heart unchanged.”
Coulter has not yet publicly responded to the open letter, which Stephens signed “a friend you haven’t made yet.”
The conservative commentator has a long history of using inflammatory and offensive language.
Her latest insensitive remark comes just weeks after she was criticized for joking that national “coming out” day would be followed by national “disown your son” day.
klee@nydailynews.com
An Open Letter to Ann Coulter
John Franklin Stephens
The following is a guest post in the form of an open letter from Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens to Ann Coulter after this tweet during last night’s Presidential debate.
Dear Ann Coulter,
Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?
I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia
EDITOR’S NOTE: John has previously written powerful opinion pieces on the R-word.Read one here.
Be gentle.
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