I am "mentally deficient" and I don't think it's so rare. It's not the same as being stupid. It just means, that I'm not so good or very slow at some mental tasks.
I find descriptions like "mentally deficient", "personality deficit" and "immature" rather rude.

Children with chromosome-aberations are not always fully developed at the time they are born. There can be visible differences like deformities and problems with vital organs like heart and kidneys. The less visible differences include delayed motor and speech development or being autistic.
Usually such children only need more time to learn and develop. Being compared to other children all the time really sucks. Or people assume that these children are just lazy and could do better if they really wanted to.

Sofie
I can tie my shoes and I have a highschool diploma

Sophie,

Anyone who is human, breathing, and has a brain is "mentally deficient" in one way or another. The older I get (youth deficient), the more I've come to realize that just because a person has a degree, money, social importance, etc., doesn't mean that they are masters of knowledge and superior to the rest of us. They have their "mental deficiencies" too. Case in point for me is the "genius" who did my genital surgery.

Remember your words about writings on IS individuals...it is utter rubbish!!! There is no need for you to even make mention of the mental tasks you are slow at, everyone has this problem, IS and non-IS. Many people judge themselves much more harshly than the situation warrants (yours truly included). You are more than good enough. There will always be someone rude out there who is more than willing to cut us down (probably to compensate for some "mental deficiency" of their own), so stick with the people who know the truth and love you, all of us at BLO.

Hmmm...I too can tie my own shoes, but I can never get them to stay tied...is that an IS "mental deficiency"?

__________________
Kara

Hi Sofie,



Such children especially need love and caring. Criticisms and admonishments like: "why are you so stupid?" or "can't you do anything right?" are usually one of the factors that exacerbate and maybe even in some cases cause "learning disabilities". Childhood abuse (not talking about you, ok?) will affect the child's psycho-social development and it will show in school grades and interaction with others. Praise of what a child can do is infinitely more positive than pointing out what they can't do. I also think having a "good heart" is more important than how "smart" one is.

I'm known here at BLO as a "science nerd" (egghead, a "brain") and eloquent in my posts.....hah! I have been and still am slow in most any kind of math, especially "word problems"......my brain has trouble comprehending the meaning and what "it wants"... and as a former chemist and even now, (and in school) I have/had to study extra hard just to "get by".

Legalese ( law books and government voting measures) and even when some here at BLO start talking about legal-political stuff...I don't quite know what the h*ll they're talking about! My speech? You'll notice that almost every one of my posts here at BLO has been edited ( more than just once per post!)... in real life I will sometimes stop in mid-sentence to try to find the word or phrase I want to communicate my thoughts and feelings; sometimes coming out with something dumb or that doesn't "fit"....sometimes I have just quit my sentence because I couldn't find the *%$#@ word! I used to be worse...I would call it my "Norm Crosby" syndrome, for those who are familar with that comedian who "mixes up" words. And sometimes I ramble on and on...and "squash" sentences together in a loooong string when I get "excited"....Julanne pointed that out to me before and I've learned and have tried to shorten them to be more coherent.

But given time and extra effort I "passed" within the medical and science fields and not many (until they catch me in a Norm Crosby or Phyllis Diller moment) would know it. Reading a lot, doing crosswords, studying texts, constantly learning something has "exercised " my brain ( language/speech center) to "come up to speed" and maintain the same. Deficiencies need not necessarily be "eradicated"...rather strengthening other capabilities compensates for the other "weakness" and may even improve it. Like athletes with disabilities have done to go on to be champions.

Dana

This reminds me of an experience I had. When I was 23 I started working in a distibution center. One of the first people who caught my eye was a little guy who couldn't have weighed much more than 110. As a matter of fact we had to wear back belts and I'm 5'3" @ 90lbs and I wound up with a back belt that he had lost or something and got a new one. It had his name on it. He was very slim and not too tall. He was so cute. His voice was like SpongeBob square pants and he had soft skin like a girl. His ears stuck out like a cute little monkey and the hairs on the crown of his head were always sticking up cause he would forget to comb them down. I remember being told that he could only work on certain things and I was also told he had ADD.....but I was also told to not make the mistake that he wasn't extremely smart because he had quite a reserve in knowledge about certain things that interested him...like computers. He also liked TV and could recite many things from TV. I tried to get closer to him and asked him to the movies but he was 21 and had never kissed a girl in his life. He was terrified of me....but I also know he liked me by the looks he would give me and the games he wold play but he wouldn't exactly come out and say it. He was very gaurded of himself and mae it known to me that he was afraid I would get him out and me and my freinds would ridicule him and I couldn't convince him otherwise. I didn't understand his behaviour. All I knew is that his parents were considered late in life to have a child. I knew that he was an only child and his parents were protective and a little strict and conservative as was he and he went to a private school in all of his school years. I couldn't understand why when I would bring up hanging out and going out together that he would go into a tailspin of changing the subject and talking really fast and going on and on and on and on about anything other than being alone with me where I might make a pass at him. I chalked it up to his ADD and I became offended of his games of showing subtle, unspoken but deffinate interest and then ignoring my actual desire for companionship. I thought he was just playing headgames and never considered that he had a secret. I quit trying to talk to him and became annoyed at his immaturity like everyone else. His intuition picked up on it rather quick and he came to me and greeted me and spoke very calmy and patiently and was asking about how things were going for me. I immediately forgave him but still didn't understand. All I knew is that I had to let it go and accept the freindship. I began to notice how others would treat him. They would belittle him and say anything they wanted to rile him up because they knew how sensative he was but that he was too conservative of a person and to small to get even. Guys would not give him the respect they would give other guys. Some girls would have his back all day long and then some would pay him no mind whatsoever. When people began to make him upset (and he had quite a temper) and pick on him I began to notice that he would act just as immature as he could....because he knew it annoyed people. That was his weapon because losing his temper only got him laughed at untill the day he purposefully ran over a pallet jack and got fired.
He started working at a computer store that was much more up his alley but he still got picked on....but he was liked very much and this was greatly noticed after he was killed in a car accident. It didn't sink in while he was alive that maybe he had something he was hiding or maybe some of his "abnormal" behavour was not completely perpetuating itself. I think back now of how he might have grew past it all and proved himself to be one of the best and most capable of people but unfortanely he is no longer here and I miss him terribly. He was very special and far from defficiant.