On the latest version of U.S. Big Brother one of the contestants used what is referred to in my house as the “R” word. The word is retard. This is a term that is not politically correct and certainly not used in the human services field. Everyone in human services knows to use person first language.
When he first made this comment, my mouth fell to the floor. Well, as it turns out one of the other house members has a son with a disability. She attempted to correct the individual’s language and inform him why it is wrong, but he did not understand how the term was offensive.
Cue hundreds of people writing angry letters to his employer – the United Autism Foundation. This company (which seems creepy enough based on it’s website) has changed from attempting to sell goods with this man’s picture to publicly declaring that he is not affiliated with them:
“Mr. Jasinski will no longer work for or represent the United Autism Foundation since he caused tremendous damage to UNIAF.”
Ignoring the odd way the company is handling the matter, this man has ruined his chances of getting another job in the human services field. The good news is that he was not in a direct care position. The bad news is other employers will probably pass over him as well.
I hope for his sake he wins the prize money. However, no amount of money will take back making a politically and socially incorrect comment on national television.
April 14, 2008 at 5:17 am |
[...] outside of the workplace should not matter. I responded to her blog but since this has been a topic on my mind recently I would like to expand on my [...]
April 14, 2008 at 11:38 pm |
[...] outside of the workplace should not matter. I responded to her blog but since this has been a topic on my mind recently I would like to expand on my [...]
July 8, 2008 at 5:40 pm |
[...] Rep from Texas will be on this seasons Big Brother. This will be especially interesting given the workplace fallout of last season but more importantly to see if our profession is really represented. I know I [...]