In the popular media, the mentally … oh, whatever the new politically correct term of the week is – are depicted as going “yay!” at the slightest inclination; usually when they’re happy. “McDonalds yay!” My question: do they really do that? If they do, why?
Isn’t this simply a reflection of the tendency of Down syndrome sufferers to be jovial?
Based on having shared a couple of classrooms with MRDD folks in the past:
The notion is accurate, but the specifics aren’t.
Some of them do get quite happy over little things, just like little kids, but they don’t actually shout “Yay” every time it happens.
and, of course, there are a thousand different versions of retarded, and a thousand different levels of severity, so your responses are going to be all over the map.
I had NEVER heard of this until Crank Yankers had a skit with Special Ed. <— NSFW b/c it’s pretty irritating, obnoxious and offensive.
This is the only media reference I’ve ever seen with the whole “Yay!” thing.
Elmwood, where else in the media have you seen this?
The Jim Florentine/Special Ed bit has gotten A LOT of play in media, around watercoolers, and in classrooms for the last 5 or 6 years. It’s the main and possibly sole source of the “yay” thing.
I had some special friends growing up and they never said yay. A couple of them would laugh at just about anything remotely funny, though.
A close friend’s brother has MS with some cognitive impairment and says “yay” all the time - but only because he thinks Special Ed is hilarious.
My sister has severe cerebral palsy, and she gets carried away with theatrics when she’s happy. She’ll say “yay”, “yeah!”, squeal inarticulately, do the Arsenio Hall thing (we’re both in our mid-twenties. It left a print), or stomp her feet in a makeshift dance.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s not uncommon, either.
My brother is retarded. I have never heard him or any of the men that he lives with say “yay”.
Several cartoon characters like Spongebob Squarepants, Stimpy, or Wooldoor Sockbat have this mannerism (although they may say something like “Joy” or “Whee” instead of “Yay”).
Hopefully you’re not disparaging SpongeBob…my sons and I cackle like thieves over his shenanigans. I suppose that means we are all retarded!
Is retarded the appropriate word? There are many people I would call retarded, but none of them fit the definition that I think this thread indicates.