Why is there such a stigma on the mentally retarded?

[kristoff]

HA!

Welcome to the club!

Even MENSA doesn't want ME...

Hell, they didna want me either....

They kicked my friends and I out after we Schaddisched (spell?) - DANCED - through the lobby of the Commodore Hotel in St Paul during the annual

Mensa Dance and Dinner. Of course, Deb, Jean, Mark, and I were fully.... nude.... That'll teach 'em to hire a freaking polka band!

[Rambler56 (imported)]

John is but one of four in his family who suffers from the effects of fragile x and other major brain disorders. He has a younger sister who has sever cerebral palsy. She is wheel-chair bound and cannot do anything for herself, she is nearly quadriplegic, with very little motor control. She is of fair intelligence and is very well aware of her predicament and to the fact that it can never get better. She loves books, though her eyes are poor and are spasmatic. She cannot talk much because of partial paralysis of the speech mechanics in her brain and throat. She is 19 and was not predicted to live past 12. All her time is special, and I try very hard to make it such for her, I read to her and goof around with her, as adults. I treat her as a friend and I try to keep her laughing, which she does quite often. She is happy, yet I see such a sadness in her, a longing to be free.

John also has a 24 year old brother who has very sever mental retardation and psychosis. He is also deaf. He does not speak, though can follow hand gestures. He is wonderful, in his simplicity.

I say these things to bring awareness to the fact that people should not judge by what they see, rather by what they feel.

"Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged Yourself"

Thanks for listening and for all the kind welcomes I have received here.

[A-1 (imported)]

Jess,

God don't make JUNK.

These people are here on this Earth for a reason. We cannot know that reason.

The best that we can do is to welcome all and to make them as comfortable as possible.

However, your SOUL can only take so much, not being Christ-like and all.

Do NOT read into people things that they cannot verbalize to you. Also, remember, intellectual levels are hard to communicate. Helen Keller was YEARS breaking through her deafness and blindness to communicate her brilliance to us.

I like to tell my friends how to save people.

1. Have a strong emotional footing.

2. If you find your psyche being pulled downward, you must adandon them for your own sake, if not for theirs.

3. It is hard to save a drowning person by 'jumping in' with them. Instead, stay on solid ground and reach out to them with an object that they can grasp firmly and that is strong enough so that you may pull them to safety.

4. Most importantly, realize that not everyone can be saved. Sometimes, it is all that we can do to save ourselves because not always are we strong enough to save somebody who cannot help in their own rescue.

5. Saving people is exhausting mentally AND physically. Remember, nobody is saved when you kill yourself in the process

CAPISH?

[truly committed (imported)]

Jess,

God don't make JUNK.

These people are here on this Earth for a reason. We cannot know that reason.

********

This is not the way i see it, i am flawed and have problems most people do not have because of sin? Our minds and bodies are flawed because of sin..Adam and Eve chose to eat the apple, so we all have the consequences now..

i do not for one second believe God intended it to be as it is now, we have pain, disfigurment, psychiatric problems, learning difficulties, male patterin baldness and cellulite etc etc etc etc..all because of one thing..s i n .

we should be perfect in all ways, but after the downfall man ceased to be beautiful..on the inside and out, ofcourse the majority are not affected as severe as the minority, but still the human condition is affected..

just my view...

[Paolo]

Jess,

God don't make JUNK.

These people are here on this Earth

for a reason. We cannot know that reason.

********

This is not the way i see it, i am flawed and have problems most people do not have because of s

in? Our minds and bodies are flawed because of sin. ...

just my view...

And you're entitled to your own view, flawed as some of us may think it is. Sounds to me like you're obsessed with some imaginary Omnipotent Hateful Maniac.Then again, that's just MY view.

[truly committed (imported)]

i was just replying to A 1

:)paolo paolo make me smileo

[Rambler56 (imported)]

'God' does make junk. I have met a few in my time. People who hurt innocents and love the feeling of doing it. I am not religious in any way, yet I am more spiritual than most I know. I love and I hope. And I can save others, even if it means I must sacrifice myself in the process. Isn't that what Jesus would do?

[truly committed (imported)]

It is Jess

[plix (imported)]

Everyone loves good and innocent people. Nothing shocking about that

It is those who love so-called "junk" who are the truly special and rare people.

Jesus sacrificed himself for "junk", not for the good and innocent. He loved that junk when no one else would.

[Rambler56 (imported)]

When I refer to 'junk' people, I mean to bad ones, the ones full of anger who hurt others and cause pain, not the retarded or handicapped, they are not junk, they are the special ones, the ones, which if you look close with unblinded eyes, you see true humanity and in them you can find undying love and things which most of us either take for granted or miss entirely.

John is simply concerned with his life and his own version of happiness, he knows nothing of hate and is blissfully unaware of the terrible things which happen in this world. He is more at peace than anyone I have ever considered a friend. He shows true concern for others and would never intentionally hurt anyone. He is not part of the "sex game" which many of us are caught up in. He exists on a very different level than most, I envy him sometimes, for his simplicity and his unconditional love for all. Mostly because he cannot see or understand the things which plague my mind, nearly always.

Love, love, love and peace and hope and care for all.

Jesse