It was brought to our attention that items with the words “Got retard?” were available on Walmart and Amazon’s retail websites. We bring this matter to light, as it is one which deeply affects our community and all people.
The time has long passed that such words are acceptable in our society. There is nothing funny about this word. The Fragile X community, and good people everywhere, recognize its use as hateful and insensitive. People we love are often bullied with this word, and it is insulting to everyone and has no place in society.
It is unacceptable that such horribly insensitive products not only exist, but were available at major retailers like Amazon and Walmart.
We are incredibly proud of our community for acting so quickly to see these items removed from these sites. Your early protests have produced results. Walmart has removed the products from their site. As of 11am EST, a search on Amazon still located items, but an error message popped up indicating the links were no longer good once clicked. The NFXF will continue working hard to make sure there is no evidence of these items on either site. Additionally, we will make inquiry into the identity of the manufacturers of these products and make every attempt to educate them on the error of their ways. Anything short of discontinuing the relationship with them on behalf of Walmart and Amazon is unacceptable.
The NFXF will not tolerate such callous indifference to our community and will take swift action whenever such an injustice occurs. We applaud our vocal advocates within our community and assure you that we stand with you.
Together, we are stronger.
Tony Ferlenda
CEO, National Fragile X Foundation