Mentally disabled adults learn lessons in love (article)

[CosminaPrisma]

I think this is pretty cool.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11333040/"

 

[Mk]

I wouldn't want to go out with a retarded girl. Oh yeah, now retarded is mean.
Wikipedia:

The abbreviation retard or tard is still used as a generic insult, especially among children and young teens.
Cretin is the oldest and probably comes from an old French word for Christian. The implication was that even people with significant intellectual or developmental disabilities were "still human" (or "still Christian") and deserved to be treated with basic human dignity. This term has not been used in any serious or scientific endeavor since the middle of the 20th century and is now always considered a term of abuse.
Idiot indicated the greatest degree of mental deficiency, where the mental age is two years or less, and the person cannot guard himself or herself against common physical dangers. The term was gradually replaced by the term profound mental disability.
Imbecile indicated a mental disability less extreme than idiocy and not necessarily inherited. It is now usually subdivided into two categories, known as severe mental retardation and moderate mental retardation.
Moron was defined by the American Association for the Study of the Feeble-Minded in 1910, following work by Henry H. Goddard, as the term for an adult with a mental age between eight and twelve; mild mental retardation is now the term for this condition. Alternative definitions of these terms based on IQ were also used.

I find etymology interesting.

 

[CosminaPrisma]

I wouldn't want to go out with a retarded girl.

Nobody said you had to.

I think these people have the same right to be able to go out an have relationships and lives as we do though, whether or not they're disabled. I found it kind of heartwarming that someone actually took a big enough interest in them to help them achieve that goal. If they can form relationships with one another, in the long run their lives turn out healthier and more productive.

I find etymology interesting.

I agree.

 

[Mk]

I think these people have the same right to be able to go out an have relationships and lives as we do though, whether or not they're disabled. I found it kind of heartwarming that someone actually took a big enough interest in them to help them achieve that goal. If they can form relationships with one another, in the long run their lives turn out healthier and more productive.

Yes, me too. But it may be a waste of time. Honestly, I don't think any of them will have a successful relationship.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Cosmina, I think that's wonderful. I love hearing stories like that. My little brother has developmental disorders, but he dates, and he goes through love and loss just like the rest of us.

 

[Curious3141]

I wouldn't want to go out with a retarded girl. Oh yeah, now retarded is mean.

I'm sure a girl with an IQ of 180 and the same sort of general temperament would say the same about you.

Retardation is relative.

BTW, I'm not meaning to be rude here. But extremely gifted adults have made no bones of the fact that they find it very difficult to interact socially with "average" people. In fact, it's even been said that meaningful and mutually satisfying relationships are impossible (or very unlikely) if the IQ gulf is greater than 30 points or so.

Just as you believe (probably justifiably) that it would be impossible for you to form a meaningful attachment with someone of severely impaired intellect, you must acknowledge that a highly superior intellect would feel the same about you.

 

[Mk]

I'm sure a girl with an IQ of 180 and the same sort of general temperament would say the same about you.

Retardation is relative.

BTW, I'm not meaning to be rude here. But extremely gifted adults have made no bones of the fact that they find it very difficult to interact socially with "average" people. In fact, it's even been said that meaningful and mutually satisfying relationships are impossible (or very unlikely) if the IQ gulf is greater than 30 points or so.

Just as you believe (probably justifiably) that it would be impossible for you to form a meaningful attachment with someone of severely impaired intellect, you must acknowledge that a highly superior intellect would feel the same about you.

And if I my IQ was 180 I'd rather go out with somebody else with a 180 IQ. I would think a mentally retarded person would have to go out with another mentally retarded person, because not many normal people would be readily attracted to... a retard. Actually I did see a TV show on TLC with a severely narcoleptic person try to date people. It was kind of depressing, but he did find a devoted girlfriend. She has to drive all the time, cook, work, etc.. because of his ailment.

Like its been said in GD, sometimes we have to settle for normal people, most of us here are very smart. Well, that's why we're here, a lot of us wish of more company of other learned people, and to have intelligent conversations, that may not be available with your friends that you play poker or go the bar with on Fridays.

 

[Curious3141]

And if I my IQ was 180 I'd rather go out with somebody else with a 180 IQ. I would think a mentally retarded person would have to go out with another mentally retarded person, because not many normal people would be readily attracted to... a retard. Actually I did see a TV show on TLC with a severely narcoleptic person try to date people. It was kind of depressing, but he did find a devoted girlfriend. She has to drive all the time, cook, work, etc.. because of his ailment.

Like its been said in GD, sometimes we have to settle for normal people, most of us here are very smart. Well, that's why we're here, a lot of us wish of more company of other learned people, and to have intelligent conversations, that may not be available with your friends that you play poker or go the bar with on Fridays.

Those are fair points. There is some truth to "birds of a feather flock together".

 

[selfAdjoint]

Those are fair points. There is some truth to "birds of a feather flock together".

I have been struck by the fact that as soon as divorce became even slightly possible in Western society - and long before it became socially acceptible - very creative men began to shed their wives and remarry. Einstein, Picasso, Frank LLoyd Wright, Enrnest Hemingway, and so on for several other examples. They usually went through three wives and what did they wind up with? In nearly all cases it was a motherly woman of no special IQ who took care of them and cosseted them. It is a fact of human existence that the more capable you are, the more your personal whims can overrule your evolutionary psychology.