Dropping Mental Retardation

I loved this article. It’s about Missouri governor, Matt Blunt, who issued an executive order to drop Mental Retardation from MO’s (department of developmental disabilities) agency's name. Its new name is Department's Division of Developmental Disabilities. I have mentioned the indecency before in a previous post, and to many people who represent my state’s DMR (Department of Mental Retardation), that we should change that name. It is also noted that of the 5 states that had formerly used MR in their state agency's name, that only 6 states still remain. The article also cites:

Five states and the city of Washington, D.C., have dropped the words "mental retardation" from agency names in the past 18 months. And in 2003, President Bush renamed the President's Committee on Mental Retardation as the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Only six states still use "mental retardation" in agency names, according to the governor's office.

And "thankfully" my state, Massachusetts, will not longer be one of them.

As reported in the Worcester Telegram, the state Department of Mental Retardation will have a new name. The department will change its name to the Department of Developmental Services on July 1.

Both my kids will have an association with this agency, and Meghan already does for funding to help pay for her residential school, and that Nick will also (most likely) have an association with this department (for programs) and that I would have been horrified to be asked: “Mom, what does DMR stand for?”

Other agencies to note in Massachusetts that help families of children with special needs: The Arc of Massachusetts of which we are a member: The Arc of Greater Plymouth.