Two bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this year will remove outdated terminology in state law language for certain classes of people beginning in January.
Assembly Bill 248, also known as the Dignity for All Act, removes the words and phrases “mentally retarded persons,” “mentally retarded children,” “retardation” and “handicap” from existing laws to eliminate “obsolete terminology,” as per the bill’s text.
Instead, terms like “individuals with disabilities” or “individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities” will be used. The bill was authored by Assemblymember Devon Mathis, R-Visalia.
The language to describe people with disabilities has evolved over more than a century from “feeble minded,” “idiot,” “imbecile” and “crippled” to “retarded,” which has also simply become an insult and is in need of being taken out of official wording in the state, according to The Arc, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The California branch of The Arc said that “mentally retarded” emerged in the mid-1800s by medical professionals.
Jim Frazier, public policy director for The Arc of California and a former member of the state Assembly, said that the Dignity for All Act should be applauded for removing phrasing that may be considered derogatory to communities.
“In today’s modern society, we are constantly evolving by learning from our past and making changes that get us closer to creating a world that reflects our vision of full inclusion and equality for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Frazier wrote on the Arc of California’s website about the bill.
The Arc itself used to stand for the National Association for Retarded Children, but changed its own terminology and name over the years. In 1992 the organization dropped the “R word” completely to become simply The Arc, 20 years before the federal government removed the terminology associated with “retardation” under the Obama Administration.
Another bill aims to remove a derogatory stigma associated with a term in the state. Assembly Bill 1130 will replace the word “addict” with “a person with substance use disorder” in the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act text, which is part of the 2022 state health and safety code.
“Assembly Bill 1130 will contribute to the reduction of stigma for individuals with substance use disorder by replacing outdated, perforation terminology in our laws,” wrote the bill’s author, Congressman Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park. “This change is consistent with guidance from the National Institutes of Health to avoid terms that increase stigma and negative bias when discussing addiction.”
