On Wednesday March 3,  senior Adam Meyers and other student council members led Lawrence High in a national awareness event to eliminate the “R word”.

Spread the Word to End the Word was developed by youth in partnership with Special Olympics and Best Buddies international to raise awareness about the implications of the word “retard(ed).”

“Scrubs” actor John C. McGinley is the main spokesperson for the cause. Joe Jonas, Carl Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Alonzo Mourning have also latched onto the cause. The group’s goal is to get 100,000 people to pledge not to say the R-word.

At Lawrence High, 202 students signed the pledge boards. Meyers considers this a “great response” from the student body.

“Most people don’t realize what the term really means,” Meyers said. “Once we let people know that it is still just as offensive as it was 50 years ago, they started to realize that it wasn’t a cool term to use and they pledged not to use it anymore.”

Meyers has personal reasons for supporting the cause.

“I grew up with a neighbor who was mentally disabled, and just because he talked different and was a little slower than others, didn’t mean he was stupid,” Meyers said. “He is extremely intelligent in his own ways. To me it’s just putting your peers and classmates down if you’re using the word.”

He attributes the use of the “r-word” to its casual usage in the media.

 “I think lately people have been using lines from the movie “The Hangover” because they believe it’s funny,” Meyers said. “The film industry has changed definitions of words and created new meanings [of words] to make movies funny and draw the viewers’ attention.”

If you missed the March 3 event but would like to pledge, visit rword.com.