Past Is Prologue

The Rise and Fall of ‘Mentally Retarded’

How a term that replaced bad words became one — and how to stop it from happening again

In 1910, the Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Persons adopted three classifications of people we know today as intellectually disabled, as defined by a newly invented way to measure intelligence we now call the IQ test. “Morons” were the most intelligent — they had IQs between 50 and 70. “Imbeciles” with IQs between 25 and 50 were the second level. Those below 25 would remain “idiots.”

These terms, and the name of their association for that matter, did not strike these medical officers as insulting or offensive at all because, at the time, they weren’t insulting or offensive. They were simply medical terms. In fact, “moron” was a new word invented by Henry H. Goddard, a psychologist who helped devise the American version of the IQ scale and the three classifications adopted by the group.

A chart from a 1913 New York Times article about a survey counting and classifying “defective” children in New York City schools.

In 1987, the group changed its name. Years of the use of “idiot,” “moron,” and “imbecile” as common insults had already…