Originally Posted by DeeDee
Yes. Most people in the disability community would regard it as equally offensive to the R word.
Which one? "Retard" has long been used as an insult, but "retardate" was used for even longer as a technical term for people who are mentally retarded, as can be verified by searching "retardate" in Google Scholar. The scientists who published papers about the mentally retarded were trying to help them. Sensitivity about language can be carried too far.