Historically, people who suffer from mental retardation have been described using a variety of terms, including "mentally deficient," "mentally handicapped," "feeble," etc. Some of the terms that have been used have had negative connotations. One advantage of the proposed new term, "intellectual disability," is that it accurately describes the condition without reflecting negatively on people who suffer from it.
An article in the AAIDD (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) discussed the proposed change between the terms "mental retardation" and "intellectual disability."
The article indicated that a term describing a particular condition needs to meet certain criteria in order to be effective. For example, it should be specific, so that people who need to work with the term can understand it. It should be able to be used consistently by various people, such as medical professionals, mental-health professionals, organizations, families, researchers, etc. And it should accurately reflect the current state of knowledge regarding the condition.
According to the article, the term "intellectual disability" meets all of the specified criteria for an appropriate description of a condition. There is no difference between the old term and the new term regarding diagnosis, treatment, etc.
Personally, I feel that "intellectual disability" might sound better than "mental retardation." When I was growing up, I sometimes heard people making unkind remarks about mentally retarded people and calling them names. The term "intellectual disability" might be more likely to help people realize that those who suffer from this condition deserve to be treated with kindness and respect.
The article can be found at:
http://www.aaidd.org/media/PDFs/renamingMRIDDApril2007.pdf
The AAIDD offers answers to frequently asked questions on intellectual disability, including comments about different terminology for it. You can read the FAQs at:
http://www.aaidd.org/content_104.cfm
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