Sample news release

Legislation will “Disable the Label”
of Mental Retardation in Ohio 

Thanks to the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 79, self-advocates single-handedly convinced the Ohio legislature to unanimously pass Senate Bill 79 to “Disable the Label” of mental retardation. Legislators agreed that the term has long been used in a negative way and has been a hurtful description to individuals with developmental disabilities.  Ohio citizens with developmental disabilities are now assured that the term “mental retardation” will not be in the vocabulary of state and county agencies that provide services and supports to them.

The legislation will officially take effect in this summer and will require the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities and all 88 County Boards of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to remove the label of mental retardation in their organization’s name and any other reference relating to Board functions.  The state agency will now be the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.  Each county’s agency name will change to the County Board of Developmental Disabilities. 

To help spread the word about the passage of Senate Bill 79, the Disable the Label campaign was organized. The campaign is designed to recognize the abilities of everyone rather than defining groups of people with a label.  This theme not only focuses on the label of mental retardation, but can also apply to all derogatory names given to individuals who have a disability.  The theme also encourages citizens to recognize “people first” verses the label.