This is the problem with the word, this is why it hurts people

First a little bit about myself, I am high functioning autistic, I also have some other disabilities. I dont use speech to often, sometimes I use a communication device to talk, or I just use the computer, e-mail or whatever. I was diagnosed when I was around 6, I was pretty low functioning, didnt talk, couldnt do most things to take care of myself at the age of 6. I could understand people somewhat then, but people didnt know that, and I guess it is hard to predict how a person is going to end up down the road and how far they are going to progress in there abilities. Anyway, at that age they diagnosed me as being 'mentally retarded'. I now know that I am not mentally retarded, sure I have my challenges, and there are many things I have not learned to do yet, but MR was a missdiagnoses.

Okay, so this is the problem with the word 'retarded'. Growing up people called me a 'retard', made fun of me, said I was retarded. When my dad would get mad at me he would call me a retard. That hurt beyond what I can describe. So many years of being called retard, retarded, stupid, whatever by the bullies, that made me start to believe that they were true, it left me with no confidence in myself, left me thinking that I could never get anywere, could never achive anything, and would be doomed to never be good enough. After I graduated high school I hit a all time low of feeling like this and a few times attempted to end it all. It took me many years of healing before I started to believe in myself and that all that stuff was wrong.
I know first hand why the word hurts peoples feelings, and how much a single word can hurt a person.
I am 25 now, I race road bicycles at pro level, and have a ton of confidence in my ability to achive what I want to. Those things dont bother me anymore, but I dont want anyone else to have to go threw the hurt from people who dont understand the harm a word can do.