Did you ever make fun of the mentally disabled when you were young?

[dhinojosa]

I was talking to my girlfriend about some of the things I did as a kid and how I used to make fun of the mentally disabled, and how I regret it now. I wish I wasn't such an asshole back then. Anyways, so I thought I'd do a self-reflecting poll.....

So the poll is:
Did you ever make fun of any mentally disabled/challenged people when you were young and if you did, do you regret it now?

[nickinSTL]

1. nope, never did it

Being as I would have been mentally disabled if I'd been born 10 years earlier...I've never found mental disability funny.

[dhinojosa]

3. Good for you....

I wasn't the same.

[SCDem]

2. I remember jerry's kids

and also the term retarded being used. I had two older brothers (not that that is an excuse) and remember that being a derogatory statement.

"Don't be retarded" I don't even know if that slur or put down is used anymore.

I do regret it but I can only focus on making up for the idiocy of my youth through positive actions today.

[dhinojosa]

4. Absolutely....

One my charities today is special olympics and I try to make donations to that organization every year.

[hfojvt]

21. using "retarded" as a slur was common for me

So, it is another way of saying "stupid". That is a little bit different from making fun of a disabled person to their face.

For example, the word "anemic" is used as a slur all the time, as another way of saying "weak". I have been anemic all of my life, at least when I was younger. So I sorta say "hey" every time I hear it used, but there is not a big movement to get rid of that slur. What is so bad about being weak anyway? Just as there is the common assumption that heavy people eat too much, so there is also the assumption that thin, weak people are that way, because they do not work out. I used to work out three times a week and I have a physical job, so although still skinny, I am not as weak as I appear.

[Hugin]

5. Bearing the brunt of such "jokes"... I took the opportunity to fire back.

Upon occasion.

[Shell Beau]

6. I never made fun of them, but

I was scared of some of them. The Special Ed class was at the end of the hall, and when I had to go by there, I would get a little weirded out. I regret that now, but it was ignorance. I was never really educated about why some are like they are and there is no reason to fear them!

[sui generis]

7. honest answer

I occasionally even still say "that's so retarded!!!"

and I assure you that what I mean has nothing to do with learning disability so much as observational disability in otherwise normal people, and is no less insensitive than saying "that's idiotic", which btw is merely an older term for the same condition if you want to stretch that far.

discuss.

[jandrok]

8. No, but I do regret POSING as mentally disabled person once.

I had driven over to the University of Houston admin building once with a friend of mine. I was riding shotgun. We couldn't find a free parking place to save our lives, so after driving around for a while, we pulled up next to a meter that still had a few minutes left on it. I waited in the car thinking that she would just be a few minutes. Well, the few minutes turned into a hour and then some. I didn't have any change for the meter, either. Sure enough, a campus police officer came over to either have me feed the meter, or move the car. Rather than lose the spot, I leaned over and mumbled "AAAAUUUUGHHHH", while making body contortions. After a minute or two of that, the officer gave up and moved on, thinking that I must have been mentally disabled or insane or something. Really threw her for a loop. My friend came out a few minutes later, and I told her the story.

I feel kinda bad about it now, but at the time, it was funny. I think I was 18 at the time.

[Catherine Vincent]

16. Oh my. You did that?

What did you friend say or did she laugh. I probably would have laughed and couldn't believe that you did that.

[jandrok]

18. Yeah, I really did that.

My friend laughed it off. I was actually a little steamed with her for making me wait in the car for so long, so that took away any edge that she might have had.

I don't know why I did it. It was just the first thing that popped into my head to do when I saw the campus cop approaching the car.

[dhinojosa]

19. Damn!!!!!!

That's quite a story

[zbdent]

9. to my shame, yes

and, as an adult, I regret it . . .

now, we're not talking about the willingly brain-damaged . . .

[TripAndFall]

10. I did once

I got my karma though. The kid tried to kill me in shop class later. And I am not kidding.

Damned If I Know

[mopaul]

11. the only time i ever started a fight was to stop some assholes doing that

wouldn't tolerate it.

[Bunny]

20. Thanks mopaul!

:thumbsup:

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Generally, no.. but I did run away from a girl with CP.. and to this day

I feel terrible about it.

[Blue Diadem]

13. My sis was 2 yrs older than me and had downs syndrome

so no, I never made fun of anyone who was mentally or physically disabled or challenged.

[Deja Q]

14. Once, but plenty were making fun of me LONG beforehand...

(What is now identified as "Asperger's Syndrome" made me a target; and later on being gay led to some truly disgusting pranks. One of which I didn't fathom what it was for nearly a decade, I really can be thick at times...)

[SeanQuinn]

15. What timing.

A kid just kept calling things retarded and I yelled at him, as the barely-older babysitter and gave him a stern stare.

Ironically, I still sometimes call things retarded. I shouldn't. I really shouldn't. Bad habit.

[sui generis]

17. answer to the question

no - actually I had befriended two special needs kids when I was 11 - John was mid functioning MR and Suzie was classic autism. They were picked on by other kids; John occasionally peed his pants when he got scared, and Suzie had good days and some very bad days, and I really hate bullies.

Where are you going with the question?

[Debi]

22. Okay, here's the kicker

I made fun of anyone who wasn't like me and my friends when I was younger (I was just a terrible human being).

So, thirty years down the road, I now have a teenage son who not only has a mental disability (Mild MR) but uses a wheelchair to be mobile. (You'd think it's karma kicking my ass).

My son calls people retard when they screw up, or when he sees things that aren't like he'd do them (he also asks people if they're idiots or stupid). I correct him whenever I catch him and try to explain that we are all unique in our own way, but I can't be with him 100% of the time (and obviously he's using this around friends/schoolmates as they are using it around him).

What to do?