Words hurt.
Special Olympics Canada and motionball are teaming up to end bullying with the #nogoodway campaign to eliminate the R-word (retard) in everyday conversation.
Special Olympics Athletes have voiced just how harmful the word is to them and Mostafa Al-Mashita from motionball at Western says the #nogoodway campaign is in support of inclusion.
“Its about educating people on not to use the R-word. We all know it, we’ve all used it. It’s just directly linked to bullying.”
Al-Mashita has seen the impact on people first hand.
“When my friends and everyone who comes out to the events sees these Special Olympics athletes, it really clicks to them on the importance of not uses that word. It’s probably one of the biggest changes we see.”
In 2016 alone, the R-word was tweeted over 900,000 times.
Along with putting a stop to bullying, motionball raises money for Special Olympics Canada to ensure athletes are able to participate in sport.
“Since 2002, motionball has raised over $6 million in support of the Special Olympics Canada Foundation which is absolutely incredible and we couldn’t do it without the Western team who bring events to Western and get people engaged and motivated to give back,” says Cassie Chambers, National Events and Communication coordinator at motionball.
This year Western’s largest club, The Purple Spur, has chosen motionball for their charity and all the money raised from their fashion show on March 25th will go to the organization to continue to support these athletes.
