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8 YEAR OLD KJ TAIWO CHAMPIONS MENTALLY DISABLED PEOPLE IN CANADA.
KJ Taiwo is an 8 year old American kid nicknamed "KJ the Kid Reporter" and lives in Toronto, Canada. Born in Baltimore MD, KJ solely took it up as his job to have Canadians join the R-word day 3/31/09 and end the use of the word "retard" on mentally disabled people even though Special Olympics Canada was not doing the campaign.
After being denied by his school system to hold a rally in the gym since the Canadian counterpart was not involved, KJ called the local media to get his cause out, walked around a big mall with his sign and called Dr Timothy Shriver, Chairman of the Special Olympics on 3/31/09 to tell him what he was doing for Canadians with mentally disabled family members.
Dr Shriver called him a HERO, told him it was an "international" event least to say was shocking to KJ and his mom Kemi, the U.S Consular General in Toronto Mr John Nay wrote him a commendation letter after he heard that the event was canceled and he couldn't come anymore.See the letter at the link and click to enlarge.
http://www.thekidreporter.com/2009/04/i-went-to-picket-my-r-word-sign.html
KJ 's spirits was not dampened. He was interviewed by Toronto's news radio station 680News and was shouted out by the top FM music stations. KJ achieved his goal of the day 3/31/09, blogged it, twittered it and plans a summer 2009 rally of his own.
KJ speaks publicly about his own 22 year old mentally challenged autistic brother "Eni" being able to do many things other people can't do like assembling furniture and solving video games puzzles to the end. Too many people call him "retarded" because he cannot add or subtract or know how to do simple things like tying his shoes or even knowing how to cook a snack like cheese sandwiches but yet he can program a computer and make Southern fried chicken. Watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCz3r9NcMiE
KJ's 39-year-old Uncle Tayo's is quadraplegic from an accident due to brain damage in a car crash caused by rioting students in 1978. He was only 8. (KJ's present age). His uncle who turned 39 today commended him on a phone call on 4/1/09.
KJ wants people to know that THE WORD "RETARDED" IS DEMEANING AND WRONG TO USE ON MENTALLY DISABLED OR CHALLENGED PEOPLE. EVEN PHYSICALLY DISABLED PEOPLE MAY HAVE MENTAL CHALLENGES TOO. The pledges at the R-word website has increased 10 fold by more people pledging from Canada.
Even Dr Shriver told him "it's all because of you" as Canadians were adding their pledges online. KJ added a link to his blog for people to keep going to the Special Olympics site and tell their friends to go there too. It is ONGOING for him not just a day. KJ IS A YOUNG PERSON THAT ROCKS! AN AMERICAN BOY MAKING HISTORY IN CANADA, A FUTURE LEADER AND EVEN A CNN HERO. WE HAVE NOMINATED HIM FOR A CNN HERO AND HE DEFINITELY ROCKS! STAY TUNED FOR HIS SUMMER 2009 RALLY IN TORONTO.
The pledging continues at his blog www.thekidreporter.com.
KJ's Twitter: http://twitter.com/KJKidReports
KJ's Facebook Fanpage: "KJ the Kid Reporter" http://www.facebook.com/pages/KJ-THE-KID-REPORTER/60924909545?ref=ts
KJ's YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/PopularCultureKid
THE R-WORD WEBSITE: http://www.r-word.org
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