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Words like “mental retardation” and “crippled” will no longer appear in Arizona state law. Gov. Jan Brewer held a ceremonial bill signing Thursday celebrating the passage of legislation that removes offensive words from state statutes.
The Arizona bill replaces “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” and “crippled” with “physically disabled.”
The Arizona Republic reports Brewer signed House Bill 2213 in April, and the legislation takes effect Sept. 30.
In October, President Barack Obama signed legislation that removed all references to “retarded” and “retardation” from federal health, education and labor law, replacing it with “intellectual disability.”
