WATCH: Sen. Schumer refers to mentally disabled children as 'retarded'

Speaking on the One NYCHA podcast, Senator Chuck Schumer referred to mentally disabled children as "retarded." That word has long since gone out of favor with those who seek to destigmatize children and adults who are developmentally disabled.

This initiative will actually house the homeless population that is actually living on our streets," the host for the New York City Housing Authority said. "We see them every day, and we are about to house them, and they are against it! It's unbelievable." The full recording of his appearance is on Facebook.

"Yes," Schumer said. "I have found that my whole career. I wanted to build, in my first, in Assembly. They wanted to build a congregant living space for retarded children. The whole neighborhood was against it! These were harmless kids, they just needed some help. We got it done," he said.

A spokesperson for Schumer has since acknowledged that the senator "used an inappropriate and outdated word" during the recent interview.

"For decades, Sen. Schumer has been an ardent champion for enlightened policy and full funding of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities," the lawmaker's representative told the Washington Examiner. "He used an inappropriate and outdated word in his description of an effort he supported that was led by the AHRC to build a group home in his Brooklyn district decades ago to provide housing and services to children with developmental disabilities. He is sincerely sorry for his use of the outdated and hurtful language."

There was an incident where Donald Trump was widely and persistently slammed for having allegedly mocked a disabled reporter. The campaign outright denied that Trump's gesture had been mocking the reporter's physical disability. The accusations never fully dispersed, though the campaign demanded an apology from The New York Times, which reported on the alleged mockery.

New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz leveled the charge of using the "r-slur" at tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen. She said that he had used the word in a conversation on Clubhouse. Lorenz tweeted out

"@pmarca just used openly using the r-slur on Clubhouse tonight and not one othe person in the room called him on it or saying anything." Andreesen denied the charge.