A CHARITY worker forced an agency to remove the word ‘retarded’ from an adoption guide for gay people.

Ismail Kaji, 31, of Leyton, discovered the offensive word in The Pink Guide to Adoption, published by The British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).

The leaflet described people who oppose gay adoption as ‘retarded homophobes’.

The use of the word was initially highlighted by a national newspaper, prompting Mr Kaji, a spokesman for learning disability charity Mencap, to appear on radio to demand its removal.

Speaking on BBC’s Five Live he said: "As someone with a learning disability I find the word retard highly offensive. It is unacceptable and a disgrace that a state-funded agency is using such out-dated discriminatory language.

"There would quite rightly be outrage if a racist word was used in a pamphlet - so why is abhorrent disabledist language so often overlooked?

"In the past the term mentally retarded was a medical term used to describe people with a learning disability. Nowadays the word is more commonly used as an insult for something that is bad or wrong. It's important that people know how offensive this word is and stop using it."

He added: "Having a learning disability means that I can have difficulty learning new things and communicating. It doesn't mean that I don't have feelings and don't understand offensive language."

Mr Kaji’s criticisms and subsequent publicity forced BAAF into an apology and the word was removed.

David Holmes, BAAF chief executive, said: "We deeply regret the use of the word retarded and apologise for any offence that it has caused.

"The use of this word is unacceptable in any circumstances. The fact that this was part of the quote that went to print was down to human error for which we apologise. We are correcting this error."