Why I hate the R word

On March 3, 2007 the most amazing thing happened. My beautiful daughter was born three weeks early. My husband and I awoke in the middle of the night and headed out to the hospital. We had no idea at that time that I would not be coming home for at least two weeks and that our beautiful little girl would spend almost a month there.
Emily was born around 4am and not a soul mentioned a problem. She looked perfect and we were quite happy. A few hours later we discovered that the doctors feared she had Down syndrome. Our world as we knew it suddenly just stopped. Between hubby and I, this made baby number eight and the first with any hint of problems. I honestly didn't even know what Down syndrome was. I mean I had heard of it, had seen children that had it, but to actually define it...I was clueless.
Fast forward to today. It has been almost 18 months of absolute wonder and awe. Emily has gone through no less than three surgeries for different things. The most serious being to repair the two holes in her heart. She is growing leaps and bounds and has no ongoing medical issues. Quite honestly, she is a perfectly normal 18 month old.
Unfortunately, the R word has become quite a popular word in our world today. Yes, there is a strong chance that Emily might be slower than some children (although as of yet, that is not the case). She might do things slower than other children, she might even be slower to learn, but does that mean she has to be labeled with such a disgusting word? My own daughter was guilty of using the word on occasion until she learned that it was hurtful to others.
Sadly, due to some misinformed people in the movie industry, there is a new movie out that celebrates the use of this word. It saddens me that my sons and daughters will be out in public and see the T-shirt being sold as a plug for the movie. The shirt glorifies the use of the R word and I just get sick inside.
Sorry, I had to rant. My daughter has a name and it doesn't start with R. There are millions of children just like her and they are beautiful people that deserve respect. Please think twice next time you use the word. It hurts.