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The whole thing is ridiculous. "Mental retardation" was a technical, medical term.
People started getting offended because it was being used as an insult. They didn't understand that no matter what you name this condition, people will use it as an insult.
That's what happened with the medical terms "idiot" and "imbecile" as well.
Even the term "special" got usurped. Remember when Obama slipped and made a joke about himself being in the Special Olympics?
"Dumb" and "lame" fall into that category as well. People who cannot speak aren't stupid. People who cannot use their legs aren't necessarily a bummer.
The term for this is "the euphemism treadmill". Basically every word we have for someone being unintelligent was at one point a medical term and for 100s or 1000s of years human beings have been making the same lame joke with whatever the current word is. We can get mad at people for doing it, but history shows it's guaranteed to happen anyway.