On May 26, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved, by voice vote, a bill titled Rosa's Law (S. 2781) that would change references to the words 'mental retardation' in numerous existing laws to 'intellectual disability'. The bill, introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) is aimed at eliminating the terms 'mental retardation' and 'mentally retarded' from the U.S. federal law books. Before approving the measure, the panel adopted, by unanimous consent, a Mikulski substitute amendment that would specify that the bill is not intended to change coverage, eligibility, rights, responsibilities or definitions in existing laws and that the bill also is not intended to require states to make similar changes to state laws. Read the text of this legislation at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.2781:
Rosa's Law coincides with the publication of the 11th edition of the definition manual titled Intellectual Disability: Definition, Classification, and Systems of Supports by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disability (AAIDD). This is the first definition manual where AAIDD presents an official definition for "intellectual disability", the condition formerly referred to as mental retardation. Learn more about Intellectual Disability. Download an FAQ on the 11th edition of Intellectual Disability.
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