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Senator Kamala Harris of California apologized on Saturday after the testimony of a man attending a city hall called The actions of President Trump "Backward mental" and she answered with a chuckle.
The exchange took place during a discussion with the Democratic presidential candidate Friday in New Hampshire.
A man in the audience asked what Mrs. Harris was planning to do next year to "reduce the actions of mental retardation" of the president.
Audience members applauded and laughed. Mrs. Harris, who was standing on a stage a few feet from the man who spoke, chuckled and replied, "Well said, well said.
"I plan to win this election, I will tell you," she added.
On Saturday, Mrs. Harris had begun to go back on her answer, tell CBS News The term that the man had used was "incredibly offensive" and that it was not something that she had "really heard or treated".
Ms. Harris added that she has been supporting people with disabilities for a long time. She unveiled a plan last month to help people with disabilities to gain equal access to employment, education, housing and health care.
"One would think that in 2019, people will understand much better how bad a term like this can be, but also the story behind it," she told CBS. , the realities and the capacity of our disability community. "
On her Twitter accountMs. Harris said that it had been "upsetting" to watch a video of the exchange.
"I did not hear the words that the man used at that time, but if I had been there, I would have stopped and corrected him," she wrote. "I'm sorry, this word and others are never acceptable."
His team did not return a request for comment as to whether the participants' questions had been reviewed and pre-approved. The identity of the man who had asked the question was not clear.
Ms Harris' apologies on Twitter were mixed. Some users have taken note of Rosa's law, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, which replaced the sentence "Delayed mental person" in federal laws with "person with a developmental disability".
The effort to change the language used by people to talk about the intellectually disabled goes back to the 1980s, Peter Berns, the chief executive of The Arc, a national advocacy organization for people with intellectual and intellectual disabilities, said Sunday.
"It's very annoying to hear this phrase continue to be used so commonly in our current culture," said Berns. He termed the term "pejorative" and "deeply offensive" for people with intellectual disabilities.
"Whenever it is used, it really creates a good time for teaching to try to explain to the public why this term is so offensive and to share the story of". oppression experienced by people with intellectual disabilities in our country during the last 100 months. years, if not more, said Mr. Berns.
Mr. Berns was pleased to see Ms. Harris apologize.
"Frankly, anyone – be it a politician, a business leader, or a celebrity – who uses this language inappropriately" should apologize and become the champion of this cause. he declared.
"They are very well placed to help educate others to end the pejorative nature of this language," he said.
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