Rosa's Law
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Rosa's Law is a
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
law which replaced several instances of "mental retardation" in law with "
intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...
". The bill was introduced as S.2781 in the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
on November 17, 2009, by Barbara Mikulski ( D- MD). It passed the Senate unanimously on August 5, 2010, then the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
on September 22, and was signed into law by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
on October 5. The law is named after Rosa Marcellino, a girl with Down syndrome who was nine years old when it became law, and who, according to
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
, "worked with her parents and her siblings to have the words 'mentally retarded' officially removed from the health and education code in her home state of Maryland." Rosa's Law is part of a
euphemism treadmill A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
that has been ongoing since the early 1900s. Words such as '' idiot'' and '' moron'' were common in court documents and diagnosis throughout the early 1900s. In the 1960s, changes in the law led to the use of such terms as ''mental retardation''. With the loss of ''idiot'' (IQ 0–25), '' imbecile'' (IQ 26–50) and ''moron'' (IQ 51–75), specific descriptors of IQ-based intelligence were abandoned because of negative public sentiment. Under Rosa's law, these would be described respectively as profound, severe, and moderate levels of intellectual disability.


See also

*
Developmental disability Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...
*
Feeble-minded The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States, and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses, deficiencies of the mind, and disabilities. At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed a ...
* Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities *
Intellectual disability Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...
* Qualified Intellectual Disability Professional


References

Acts of the 111th United States Congress United States federal disability legislation Intellectual disability {{US-law-stub