Just hours after Gov. Ted Strickland signed a law that gives agencies until Oct. 7 to delete the words mental retardation from their names, Franklin County's agency rolled out its new name, logo and letterhead.

The programs that serve 14,000 individuals and families are "MRDD" no more: Now they are delivered by the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

"We're the exact same agency," Superintendent Jed Morison said yesterday. "Only the name has changed."

The name of the state department will change to the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities. An abbreviation could be more complicated.

"They're concerned about being ODDD," said Bob Morgan, head of the Delaware County Developmental Disabilities board.

Sherry Steinman, spokeswoman for the state agency, disagreed that it's a concern. "We haven't decided on the acronym yet," she said, partly because technology staff must research a new domain name.

The Delaware board was the first in Ohio to drop mental retardation, changing its name in 1990 largely because officials wanted a shorter one.

The bill Strickland signed stemmed from a passionate, grass-roots campaign to banish a term that many view as offensive and hurtful. Most other states already have switched.

The Ohio Association of County Boards of MRDD, which also will change its name, said the state doesn't have to be stuck with an unwanted tag.

It could choose a suitable abbreviation, such as DODD -- for Department Of Developmental Disabilities, said Linda Oda, spokeswoman for the association.

"If they don't call themselves ODDD, nobody else will."

rprice@dispatch.com