Nayantara N| The News Minute| November 5, 2014| 5.00 pm ISTOn last night’s show of the ‘News Hour’ on Times Now, BJP’s senior leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy emptied a dictionary of abuses, using the choicest of words against the channel’s Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami on a disagreement over the fishermen death row issue between India and Sri Lanka.‘Ignoramus’, ‘liar’ (over 25 times), ‘dumbo’, ‘stupid fellow’, ‘congenital liar’ were some of the words used by Dr. Swamy.It is a different matter that Dr. Swamy, his supporters and others are fighting over who was right. What concerned us most about the debate was the usage of the words ‘mentally retarded’, alongwith all the other words Dr. Swamy used to shower insults on Arnab Goswami where he repeated these words too.It is not just him, many of us throw around these words without as much as a thought to people who live with these conditions. What Dr. Swamy was doing in fact, was driving home deep stigmas that are associated with diseases of the brain and other systems in the body which are increasingly curable and manageable. People like Smita Sadasivan, a disability activist associated with a Chennai-based civil rights group Vidyasagar has been fighting the stigma that people with disabilities and retardation face.The word ‘Retard’ is not an abuse or insult. “The word ‘retard’ is used for people with intellectual disability,” says Smita. Clearly, it refers to those individuals whose intellectual levels are below than what is expected for that age.Read- What's a debate on English news channels without Americai Narayanan?Smita says that many people, especially the younger generation, use or rather abuse this word habitually, without the slightest idea of the kind of impact on others. Expressing her displeasure, she said, “People must be more sensitive and responsible. They must learn to respect individuals with such conditions. They too command a life of dignity. Responsible people like politicians should certainly not use it. If they cannot adhere to such moral grounds, they must not take up such a position.”The word ‘retard’ is used with an intention to ridicule or deride people, and sometimes, just for the lack of a ‘better’ word. In 2010, a campaign was started to ban ‘retard’ or the ‘r-word’ in India and it gathered quite a momentum in a span of few days. However, like most things, this too fizzled over the years.In the same year, Jennifer Aniston called herself a retard. Irony is she has been an advocate for people with mental conditions. It is disappointing to see such callous attitude being exhibited even by learned and established individuals. People fail to grasp the extent of psychological damage they can cause and the fact that it is hurtful. Read- Jayalalithaa and Subramanian Swamy: 'Frenemies' forever