All handicapped people are retarded.
Intelligence is only affected if a person is mentally retarded or gifted. Mental retardation can range from mild to severe. The diagnosis is based on the IQ levels and functional development level. Gifted people are those who have above normal IQ. Other than these two conditions, other disabilities do not interfere with intelligence levels.
FAQs on Special Needs [Illustration by Shinod AP]
People with mental retardation have the same feelings and emotions as anybody else. They also get hurt by insensitive remarks like we do. For the mildly affected, more so, for they are aware that they are not at par with their peers but do not have the ability to change anything.
People with mental retardation are rehabilitated in various ways under sheltered employment schemes. It is the attitudes of family and people that are more of a burden to them than their actual condition.
Learning disabled and retarded mean the same thing. It means the person is slow and can’t think.
A learning disability is not related to intelligence levels. It simply means that the person has certain problems in processing and interpreting information. The learning disabled can in fact have superior intelligence. One prominent example is that of scientist Albert Einstein who suffered from learning disability!
People who don’t have control over their body are not able to think clearly either.
A neurological disability such as cerebral palsy affects muscle coordination. Hence the person may have an unsteady gait or slurred speech, among other things. However, this does not imply that the person is mentally retarded. Cerebral palsy may or may not be accompanied by mental retardation.
Deaf and dumb go together. If you are hard of hearing you cannot speak either.
If a person has a hearing impairment it does not automatically imply that he cannot speak. Language and speech development are affected by hearing. However, it does not mean that speech does not develop. Development of speech also depends a lot upon when and how the person lost the power of hearing and also the extent of her/his residual hearing power.
The word “dumb” should be avoided altogether since it is used to refer to someone who is stupid.
If you want a deaf person to hear, you must shout.
Shouting at a person with a hearing impairment does not help the person at all. In fact, it distorts your facial expression, thus making it more difficult for a person to understand what you are saying.
Blind people should not strain their eyes. They should save whatever vision they have left.
It is now believed that people with a visual impairment should use whatever vision they have to the maximum capacity.
There is no point taking a blind person out, s/he cannot see anything anyway.
Complete blindness is very rare. More often than not, people have degrees of visual impairment, allowing for tunnel vision, peripheral vision or blurred vision. It is also a known fact that if a person has a paucity in one of her/his senses, the other faculties become sharper.
Why take a deaf person to a music recital, s/he cannot enjoy it.
The degree of hearing impairment varies from person to person. Music can also be enjoyed through vibrations.
