I’m with Tony Peyser (BDN, Jan. 30) regarding Bill Maher needing a lesson in sensitivity. Maher announced on his “Politically Incorrect” TV show that “Dogs are like retarded children” and when reminded by Sarah Ferguson that they have “a heart and soul” retorted “They have a heart and soul and a brain that’s retarded.” Later, in speaking with The New York Times, Maher states “The analogy with dogs was they don’t advance mentally.”

I don’t know a lot about dogs and their mental advancement but I do have a son with mental retardation and I’ve worked for years with adults with mental retardation so I feel confident when I say Maher is evidently ignorant about those with MR and other developmental delays such as autism.

Being retarded does not mean one stops developing mentally. I see the beauty and wonder of individual growth and refined skills on a daily basis. Maher goes on to patronize these individuals by saying, “I was just saying that they always strike me as very sweet and kind and innocent and you love them all the more for it.” I see individuals whose personalities cover a wide range of traits, sometimes sweet and kind and sometimes, just like the rest of the population, not so sweet and kind. They’re humans, it’s as plain and simple as that.

Maher is sorry not for what he said but for the bad media coverage it generated. Perhaps he needs some reminders that the “mentally handicapped” children he refers to grow up to become adult consumers of services and goods. Many of them are capable of speaking out for themselves, of making their opinions count, of reaching out to the sponsors and producers of shows like Maher’s. Being politically incorrect is one thing. Being ignorant is another.

Bernie Oster

Stetson