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City Hall in Lower Manhattan (file / credit: Evan Bindelglass / CBSNewYork)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) The New York City Council has announced plans to banish the use of the expression mentally retarded from all official documents and Web sites.

The council wants instead to use the term developmentally disabled.

Councilman David Greenfield (D-44th) was set to introduce the bill to remove the derogatory term on Wednesday.

He told the New York Daily News people use it in an insulting way.

He said the legislation would bring the city in line with the state and federal governments, where the term was changed years ago.

Use of the r-word has fallen into strong disfavor in recent years, particularly when the words retard and retarded are used in a demeaning and hurtful way.

The Special Olympics urges everyone to take a pledge to end the use of the r-word, and has campaigned for the end of the use of the word everywhere from the playground to the White House.

When Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was the White House chief of staff, he found himself apologizing to Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver for calling liberal activists f***ing retards during a private meeting. The remark drew a strong rebuke from anchorman Rob Johnson of WBBM-TV, CBS 2 Chicago.

As many of you know, I have a brother with Down syndrome, and have railed against the use of the r-words for years, Johnson said in a 2010 commentary. Ive tried to remind people that there are plenty of words that are taboo in society, and that these hurtful words are on that horrible list.

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New York City Council Seeks To Abolish The ‘R-Word’