The ‘R-Word’ Returns, Dismaying Those Who Fought to Oust It

^{Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States
of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons}

Late last month, a woman posted a photograph on social media of a purple hat she had knitted, while a black-and-white dog lounged on the carpet a few feet away. The cozy scene was accompanied by a single sentence: “This hat is an hour behind schedule thanks to influencer retards.”

The proud knitter, Harmeet K. Dhillon, is also the assistant attorney general overseeing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Her purview includes protecting the rights of people with intellectual disabilities by ensuring compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

For decades now, the “R-word” has been regarded as a slur against people with intellectual disabilities — a word to be avoided. Yet it has had a striking resurgence, in part because people in high-profile positions of power and influence have chosen to resurrect it, often with an air of defiance.

“The word ‘retarded’ is back,” the popular podcaster Joe Rogan declared in April, describing its return as “one of the great culture...