I read the letter from Shiloe George (Jan. 1) regarding the sad ignorant defacing of her Obama/Biden ’08 bumper sticker. I agree 99 percent with everything she said and am appalled that she experienced this.
However, as a retired Special Education teacher and the past director of SLO County Special Olympics, I was disappointed that the biggest insult she could come up with in response to the defacing was to refer to whoever did it as “redneck retards.” I can’t speak for the “rednecks” out there, but on behalf of the hundreds of developmentally disabled citizens of our county, I can assure you that none of them would do such a thing. They live and work and attend school and day programs here with dignity and integrity. We could all learn valuable lessons on being good citizens and neighbors from them.
I believe I speak for them and their many county-wide parents, siblings, teachers, friends, co-workers, employers, and neighbors when I say that I hope everyone will think twice before so casually using the hateful term “retards.”
This article appears in Jan 15-22, 2009.
