"Prejudice Starts with the Simple Perception of Difference"

by: William Tucker

Thu Apr 12, 2012 at 21:37:15 PM EDT

When Mark Vallone read comments from state House Rep. Jason Antosz defending use of the word "defective" to describe a mentally disabled rape victim, the chair of the Epping Democrats felt compelled to write Antosz, his Representative and fellow parishioner. With his permission, the text of his message:

Jason,

After reading the Landrigan Report in the Nashua Telegraph, I am deeply ashamed and appalled by the comments you made regarding people with disabilities.

As a Catholic, I am appalled that you think it’s just "PC" to change the language in the law on aggravated rape from "mentally defective" to” (someone who) has a disability that renders him or her incapable of freely arriving at an independent choice whether or not to engage in sexual conduct."

If you think words are not important, you should think again.

I am attaching the Pastoral Statement of the US Catholic Bishops on People with Disabilities which calls for us to work for a "deeper understanding of both the pain and potential of our neighbors who are blind, mentally retarded, emotionally impaired, who have special learning problems, or who suffer from single or multiple physical handicaps-all those whom disability may set apart." Note also the reference to Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris which stresses the innate dignity of all men and women…"

Does the phrase "mentally defective" demonstrate the innate dignity of a person, or does it imply something less? Remember, SB 274 was written in response to the failure of a prosecutor to protect the "innate dignity" of someone who was assaulted. Changing the language in the bill is designed to help better protect people with disabilities. Why did you object to that?

The Bishops also say, "Prejudice starts with the simple perception of difference, whether that difference is physical or psychological. Down through the ages, people have tended to interpret these differences in crude moral terms." I’d say "mentally defective" is a "crude moral term" that lends itself to prejudice and that your comments are just the kind that encourage poor treatment of people with disabilities and encourages bad people to believe they can commit crimes against them with impunity.

I can’t believe you have no knowledge of history and the Nazi campaign to exterminate "socially defective" people. This led to the Final Solution that killed 6 million Jews and million of others.

So, can you see that it’s not "just words?" when phrases like "mentally defective" are kept around? Can you see how harmful your own words are to people with disabilities and to their families?

You need to apologize.

Sincerely yours,

Mark Vallone
Epping