Rosa's Law: "...what you call people is how you treat them."

U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Michael Enzi (R-WY) have introduced a bipartisan bill, “Rosa’s Law.” Modeled after a recently enacted law in the state of Maryland, this legislation would substitute the outdated, stigmatizing terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” with the terms “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability” in federal health, education and labor policy statutes.

In Senator Mikulski's statement to the U.S. Senate, she explains that the name Rosa is in reference to a young girl whose mother shared a compelling story of her family’s efforts to give Rosa an opportunity for an education and to be treated with respect and with dignity. When it was time to bring the bill before the Maryland General Assembly, Rosa's then 13-year-old brother spoke up for his sister and explained, "What you call people is how you treat them. What you call my sister is how you will treat her. If you believe she’s ‘retarded’ it invites taunting, stigma. It invites bullying and it also invites the slammed doors of being treated with respect and dignity."

To hear more about Rosa and her family, read Senator Mikulski’s statement to the U.S. Senate upon introduction of the bill at: http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=319975&.