PROVIDENCE — In the politically correct landscape of 2009, health advocates say it is an embarrassment that Rhode Island still boasts a state agency called the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals.

Retaining the word “retardation” in the official name is both offensive and old-fashioned, they say.

Now, sympathetic lawmakers have launched a bid to change the name to simply, the Department of Mental Health and Hospitals.

At one time a common fixture in agency titles, the word retardation has over the years acquired a certain stigma. “It has taken on its own meaning apart from someone who is just developmentally disabled, and it’s time to get rid of that,” said Rep. Frank Ferri, D-Warwick, who is sponsoring a bill to change the agency’s name.

Massachusetts, one of the few remaining states besides Rhode Island to keep using the word, recently changed the name of its agency. Later this month, its Department of Mental Retardation will become the Department of Developmental Services.

“MHRH would support legislation to remove the word retardation in its name, however it wants to be sensitive to all the populations it serves,” said Governor Carcieri’s spokeswoman Amy Kempe. Unlike other states, Rhode Island’s agency is an umbrella department that offers mental health and substance-abuse services, besides serving the developmentally and physically disabled.

Calling it the Department of Mental Health and Hospitals neglects to include the disabled population, Kempe said.

But Joe Trammel, president of Helping Others to Promote Equality, an advocacy group that works the rights of the developmentally disabled, said the process need not be so complicated. “Doesn’t the term Mental Health [in the title] cover it?” he asks.

Introduced earlier this week, the bill has been scheduled for a hearing Tuesday in the House Education and Welfare Committee.

cneedham@projo.com