I am the proud
Father of three children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome.This is a genetic defect in which the child has an extra chromosome.
My son is labled by society as being retarded. This is measured by standard I.Q. tests that have been developed for many purposes but for too long now have been used to simply lable
people.
If you met my son I would hope that you would get to see the person that I see. I
don't see the physical characterisitics that might cause you to be uneasy around him or to avoid him but I see the perfection of what was intended for
people to be.
My son
will greet you with a smile that can light up the world. If he has met you once he
will remember your name and be geniunely glad to see you. He knows your moods before you do and wants to see you
happy. My son
will easily tell you he loves you if that is how he really fells and he greets
people with the best hugs you'll ever get from anyone.
My sons emotional intelligence is off the charts. He loves
people and when some are rude to him he forgives and moves on. To meet him once is to never forget him and to meet him twice is to always be in love with him.
He is excited by life and to many times life tries to
beat him down, take his spirit, and turn him into societys label of what he should be. My Son is better then what society wants for him and he fights it back like no one else I have ever seen.
So my defintion of Retarded is not one of something negative but of something to be celebrated. My defintion of Retarded is "Love in it's purest form."