Mr. Jay Hoffmeier, KOVAR
Springfield Chapter

August 10, 2007

Dear Mr. Hoffmeier.

Jill Egle’ and myself are writing on behalf of People First of The Arc of Northern Virginia. We have heard that the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services is thinking of a name change—something more like Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. We understand that The Department of Developmental Services would take the place of the current Office of Mental Retardation or OMR. In addition we have heard that KOVAR of Northern Virginia may also be considering changing the word “retarded” in their literature and on the aprons to “Intellectual Disabilities.” The People First group of The Arc of Northern Virginia would like to show our support for these name changes—please let us know how we can help you make these changes.

A lot of the People First members don’t like the “R word” which is label and stands for Retarded. We don’t like it because it hurts our feelings and it puts us down in our lifetime. 40 years ago doctors used to label us as retarded because it was accepted in society when an adult was born with a disability it was okay to say the “R word”. In today’s society it is NOT okay to use the “R word” when you are talking about a PERSON. We want to be known as a person first. A person with a name– not called a diagnosis, an I.Q. Score, a mental age, or somebody’s child. If you must describe our disability use intellectual or developmental disability.

We appreciate the members of KOVAR making this “name change” a priority. Please remember an agency or organization that uses the “R word” in their name makes not only people with intellectual disabilities angry and sad–it makes everybody angry sad.

Sincerely,

Jill Egle,
Member of People First of The Arc of Northern Virginia