It's time to Spread the Word to End the Word. Use this toolkit to raise awareness and encourage people to pledge not to use the "R-word."
Lets Put an End to the Word
Spread the Word to End the Word is a campaign to raise awareness of the hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encourage people to pledge to stop using it. On 31 March 2009, young people across the United States led local efforts to raise awareness and collect pledges from peers and the community to vow not to use the R-word. Actor and activist John C. McGinley, of the hit show “Scrubs,” helped with this effort by making national media appearances on behalf of the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign.
The events of 31 March are only a beginning. Join the movement and Spread the Word to End the Word. The resources on this page have been updated to support an ongoing effort. If you have questions, please e-mail r-word@specialolympics.org or call 1-800-700-8585.
Click on the links below for information and resources (General Information and Media Materials documents are Microsoft Word documents. Print Materials are Adobe PDFs unless otherwise noted).
General Information
Media Materials
Print Materials
To access the JPG and Zip files, right-click on the link, choose "Save Target As ..." and save the file to the desired location on your computer. The "Spread the Word Graphics" Zip file includes all the resource graphics as Adobe Illustrator files.
T-Shirt
The first link below is to a PDF of the Spread the Word T-shirt design. The second link is to a Zip file that contains the three design elements (Adobe Illustrator files) for the shirt. To access the Zip file, right-click on the link, choose "Save Target As ..." and save the file to the desired location on your computer.