Calling anyone “retarded” is wrong and terrible (and a completely unnecessary thing to ever say, ever). It’s especially awful when it’s thrown at a 4-year-old boy with special needs. The boy was called “retarded” at a Yankees game by an irate adult last week, and now he won’t stop repeating the word, according to the boy’s dad.
Danny DiMarco said the event has deeply traumatized his son, Luciano, who was shaking and crying as the man yelled him for kicking his chair at Yankee Stadium. According to DiMarco, the man said:
“What is your f*cking problem? What are you, retarded?”
DiMarco went on to say that his son repeats the word everyday:
“He has been repeating the word (retarded) every day since Friday.
Everything he was saying was directed toward my son. I don’t understand why you’re yelling at the kid, when I’m right here. My son has special needs — that’s all I said.”
The stadium was unable to move the family during the incident, to which Luciano’s mother, Angelica, said misses the point:
“I want them to be more disability friendly. They do all these autism awareness things at the stadium, but I don’t see them incorporating it into their everyday games.”
