Also, I don’t want to overstate this because this line of reasoning can give fodder to bigots, but it’s normal for people who like and respect each other to tease each other gently. When folks with disabilities are completely off limits they aren’t fully included socially. I still don’t want to be called a ‘faggot’, though.

The advertising is done automatically by google, but I have to say what you noticed gave me a good laugh.

Not only implying that we are all mentally retarded, but spelling Autism incorrecly in the process.

Idiots.

I have a friend who self-identifies as retarded, because she has an IQ under 70, and she hates the trend of coming up with new words that end up just as insulting as the old terms in a few years.

Generally I say people with intellectual disabilities because it’s the term I hear most consistently and unambiguously across several countries, but anyone calling themselves what they want — their choice. I’ll use developmental disability but only when I actually mean the entire category (which includes lots of people without an MR label).

If someone calls me a name like retard, mong, whatever though, that’s a whole different thing. My basic response is “Yeah, and glad I’m a retard and not a bigot.” Because those terms are slurs, not descriptors, and as soon as a slur’s used against me I claim it and throw it back and defuse the power of it.

So, three different ways I handle the language thing, depending on three different situations. I call individuals what they want to be called, have a general term I use in general situations (based on what most general groups seem to want plus other specifications), and make special exceptions for slurs thrown at me, which I (with a few exceptions) have no problem at all reclaiming and throwing back with pride.

Based on your argument, the word “retarded” should no longer be part of the English language, since it can’t be used to described people who are retarded and shouldn’t be used to describe anything else either. I’m not sure banning words is effective… people need to understand the impact of those words, and when they do the culture around word usage changes.

Perhaps the issue was simply the tense of the word “retards”? If Google had shown the related search as “retarded people” (implying that the search terms “special people” and “retarded people” were similar), would you have been offended?