Has Retardation Entered The Mainstream?

The other day, I came across a cheesy flirt line on the website myYearbook which said, "Are your parents retarded? Cause you damn sure are special!" This made me think about a number of things. First it made me think about how pissed off all the NDs would be, but I don't really give a fuck about that. It also made me think of using the word "special" as a euphemism for "retarded," which was initially intended to soften the blow but has now become equally pejorative. But most importantly, it made me realize how mainstream, and frankly accepted, that mental retardation has become. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about autism, which is why we must cure it. Whereas retards are seen as "indigo children," autistics and Aspergians are rightly seen as scum of the earth and not worth anybody's dime, which is why a cure must be found pronto. Even now, when a normal person asks me, "Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?" I say that I am mentally retarded instead of autistic or Aspergian, because it is more tolerated and normal people are more likely to understand it. On a side note, I'm well aware that the use of the word "special" in the myYearbook message is actually a double entendre, as the flirty use is positive. But this proves not only the normalization of retardation but that the use of "special" to mean "retarded" as so commonplace that people would automatically understand its use in a double entendre. I wrote a previous post about the word "retard" becoming mainstream, but I guess now the same has happened to retardation as a whole.