Rhinelander High School was the site last week of an awareness raising event called "Spread The Word To End The Word".
Shelley Lehman is a Special Education teacher. She says the effort is designed to eliminate what is referred to as the "R-Word"...
"....Project Unify is a group of regular students and Special Education Students. The main focus is a more inclusive community within our community and the school district. They do different activities but one of the main events is "Spread The Word To End The Word"....
Lehman says they want people to think how language affects people....
"....I think a lot of times the word is used but they don't think how it makes someone feel who has a disability or their family members that love them...."
Lehman says during lunch at school, students had the opportunity to pledge not to use the "R-Word" and they gave information to teachers to use in the classroom. She says students came forward to make the pledge not to use the "R-Word", but she thinks it might be others who need to pledge...
"....sometimes I feel it's more adults, or people out of school that use that language without really thinking about the effect it may have on others....."
Lehman says there is more information on the website r-word.org
