Exceptional Children department holds “R-word” campaign

By Valerie Bakke

On Thursday, March 28, students and faculty alike took part in pledging for the “R-Word Campaign” at Brevard High School. This nationwide campaign is linked with Project Unify, and promotes the elimination of the word ‘retard[ed]’ in everyday conversations as well as inclusion and acceptance for all.

In order to get the word out, senior Carly Farrar went around to classrooms and showed presentations she had put together. These presentations explained what the ‘R-word’ is, as well as the purpose of the campaign.

The same campaign that hit Brevard High School will move out to the city of Brevard in the next few weeks. Farrar and others will be working with and Project Unify to get the word out about the campaign on a more public level. Farrar, who is already getting busy for this event, said, “We’re just kind of working with other schools that have inclusionary programs to create a safe environment as a whole.”

As an addition to moving forward with Project Unify, those who pledged at BHS    and Carly herself – will continue to spread the word about the campaign. “We’ve gotten a lot of really good responses, and so hopefully it’ll spread by word of mouth as opposed to us necessarily dictating it,” said Farrar.

Farrar got inspired to bring the R-Word Campaign to Brevard when she found out that BHS was a Project Unify school. “We were noticing a lot of words like this being used in day-to-day speech, and we really wanted to just kinda take Project Unify and what it stands for, and this campaign that goes along with it and just kind of bring it to our school,” Farrar explained.

Although there was a logical reason for the campaign to begin, there was also a sentimental value attached to why Farrar wanted to take on this project. “I have two family members who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, and one of my best friends has disabilities. So, hearing this word in day-to-day speech and seeing how it’s affected those that I love very dearly just kinda made me wanna focus on this personally,” she said.

As far as the actual pledging was concerned, the campaign went better than anyone had hoped. Students and teachers signed a large banner in the packed cafeteria lobby. Farrar expressed her amazement with the pledging during her interview. “Well I wasn’t expecting as many people that pledged to pledge, and so it was a really great experience,” she said.

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