Ignorance

Tonight my husband and I (Presley too) went to buy a new SUV.  We had been there for what seemed like hours and were in the final stages of negotiations when the sales manager decided to tell us a quick story about his uncle from Korea.  He was telling us how he gave his uncle some financial advice and unfortunately he decided not to listen.  He said , "My uncle was retarded and didn't listen to my advice."   My husband immediately took offense and demanded we leave.  I don't think the sales manager had known what he had said to make my husband so angry.  My husband informed this young man that our son has Down Syndrome and he finds that word to me highly offensive.  I can tell right away the sales manager became embarrassed and uncomfortable.  He began apologizing to me and my husband, but my husband did not want to hear it.  He wanted to leave.  I had to calm my husband down and explain to him that unfortunately there are a lot of ignorant people in the world who use the word "retarded" too freely.  The manager didn't know Presley has downs and I am certain if he did know that word would have never come out of his mouth.  I had to remind my husband that in our lives we are going to undoubtedly encounter more people than we would like who use that word, but that doesn't give us the right to get mad at them.  We have to educate them as to why it is unacceptable to use that word and calmly tell the person why we find it offensive and tell them about our son.  Education is the best weapon against ignorance and I plan to use my weapon whenever I can.