Take the Pledge and “Spread the Word to End the Word” on March 4
Written by admin, Mar 4, 2015, Comments Off
Courtesy Steve Helm,
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Special Olympics Texas (SOTX) encourages all Texans to stop using the words “retard” and “retarded”. Wednesday, March 4 is the seventh national Spread the Word to End the Word activation and awareness day, and all are invited to take the pledge against the ‘R-word’.
Spread the Word to End the Word is an on-going effort to raise the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encourage people to pledge to stop using the R-word. The campaign is intended to get schools, communities and organizations to rally and pledge their support to help create communities of inclusion and acceptance for all people.
Primary and secondary students in many schools across Texas have planned activities to encourage their classmates to stop using the ‘R-word’, including Pleasant Hill Elementary (Leander), Wilder Intermediate (Schertz) and Bobby Shaw Middle School (Houston). The students are part of the Project UNIFY – Meet in the Middle (MiM) program, an education-based initiative that promotes acceptance, inclusion and respect between students with and without intellectual disabilities in Texas schools. The program is currently active on nearly 125 Texas campuses.
Over the last few years on this day, many schools have demonstrated a true commitment to taking the pledge by creating videos to “Spread the Word to End the Word” across all social media platforms;
Last year, students at Wilder Intermediate got together and put together their own video as an attempt to get the world to end the use of the ‘R-word’ Watch here: https://animoto.com/play/a1pfg9IluRHmhgBUZKqlhA
For more 2015 Spread the Word videos, visit http://bit.ly/1AXfgkt
