Bill would remove ‘retardation’ from agency names

COLUMBUS — The Ohio House OK’d legislation Wednesday to remove the term “retardation” from state and county agency names.

The final vote on Senate Bill 79, sponsored by Sen. Jimmy Stewart, a Republican from Albany, was 99-0.

The bill would change the name of the Ohio Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. Comparable county boards also would be required to remove retardation from their titles.

The Legislature in recent years removed terms like “idiot” and “drunkard” from sections of revised code, noting that the meaning and stigma related to such terms has changed over time. Supporters of Stewart’s bill say same can be said of retard and its derivatives.

The bill will head back to the Senate for concurrence before being forwarded to Gov. Ted Strickland for his expected signature.