Local advocates yesterday applauded the official name change of the state department that provides services to those with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Formerly known as the Department of Mental Retardation, the department from now on will now be known as the Department of Developmental Services.
Enacted through legislation passed last year, state officials and local advocates say the name change promotes dignity and respect for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
"The Patrick administration understands that names matter. Promoting dignity and respect for people with disabilities requires that we eliminate the use of terms that are no longer acceptable," Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. JudyAnn Bigby said in a statement. "Today we celebrate the Department of Developmental Services' new name and honor the hard work of so many who made the change possible."
Nancy Silver Hargreaves, president and chief executive officer of the Waltham-based agency Work, Community and Independence, said the name change could be attributed in part to a "self-advocacy movement" among those with disabilities.
"The people that we support felt the name 'Department of Mental Retardation' has a lot of stigma," Hargreaves said. "It doesn't really dignify people with disabilities."
Hargreaves said there has been precedent for such a name change. In 2006, the American Association on Mental Retardation changed its name to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
The name change was long overdue, said Leo Sarkissian, executive director for the Arc of Massachusetts - an advocacy organization also based in Waltham.
"People's perception of the words 'mental retardation' is very negative," Sarkissian said. " ... The department's name change recognizes that fact."
There have been other similar name changes in the past.
In 2003, President George W. Bush signed an executive order changing the President's Committee on Mental Retardation to the President's Committee on People with Intellectual Disabilities.
In 2005, the Arc of the United States' board of directors also voted to remove the words "mental retardation" from its mission statement.
And in 2007, Connecticut also named its Department of Mental Retardation to Department of Developmental Disabilities.
Richard Conn can be contacted at 781-398-8004 or rconn@cnc.com.
