Classifying Everything, Including Mental Retardation

When it comes to the times that I was young, I remember being blissfully unaware of certain portions of life. For example, I was oblivious to how some people judged other people on their, say, race or sexuality. I just treated one person indifferently from another. In other words, no one was treated any better or worse than a common base. But I remember that time in sixth grade when everything changed. It was almost as if it was one big revelation; it was like I was exposed to a whole new world. It was as if I suddenly I found out about the ruthlessly judgmental exchanges that happened every day. But never before have I been so “exposed” to such things had it not been for what happened a couple of days before this writing.

You see, I was at a movie theatre when I noticed that there was a bus out front. At first, I thought it was perhaps a YMCA group coming out to watch movie. But was I wrong. You see, as I went to get tickets with my friends, I began to notice a repetition with many of the people who were in the lobby: I noticed many were gawking, though through seemingly vacant eyes. I also noticed how many of them looked confused about what was going on around them. It looked as if they were simply all simultaneously in a trance, but there was another consistency that I will never forget. You see, every one of those people had been labeled, literally: Each had on a tag that stated that they required assistance due to mental disabilities. Though I know that these tags were made for more practical purposes, like letting people know if one needed “help,” I still could not help but feel the hatred for the tag. You see, I perceived it as being debasing to those people. But it was not the tags alone that led me to the believing of the degrading nature of these tags; it was something that was merely connected with them. You see, what I also constantly saw with these figures was the constant teasing and rude behavior geared towards those men and women. This behavior was made by none other than people who are considered “normal” in modern society. These exchanges that I saw, in particular, were what practically tore my heart out through the ribcage, blood spilling, bones cracking, and all else (sorry, I have read a bit too much Stephen King lately.) This incident then led me to ask a few questions to myself, like: “How could people do such a thing?” and “Do they even have any idea what sort of stuff those kinds of people have gone though?” and “Are we really that ruthless naturally, and therefore have no shame on ourselves from our actions?” and finally, “Is it even possible to fix this malevolent nature, and if so, how?”

If you’ve ever read Flowers for Algernon, you’ll know what I mean by how naïve many are in how many mentally retarded people are exposed to a many times higher degree of negative events in their lives. I’m not just talking about helpless poor academic performances. I am also talking about the presumed abuse of the retardates who are considered a lower order by many, including several immediate families. As an example of this treatment, I am talking about how some of these abusers actually perform rape and similar acts with mental retardates, without ever being called upon it, because the only witness, on many counts, doesn’t understand what and why that thing’s happening to them, let alone how to stop it. There is also the existence of the extreme where such invalids are virtually shut away from the rest of society, shut away into, say, the darkest crevice of a shed, all the while bound to chains as means of crude control. If only the oblivious knew such things, they would realize that their actions are stacking blocks onto an already precariously standing tower of negative lifelong exposures for the victims. In essence, the judging ones out there should immediately stop what they’re doing, as odds are that they have no idea what that sort of victim has already gone through – even if there is a slight justification to the matter.

Perhaps it is just natural for us humans to perceive some as a lower class if they have a difference with just one measly trait. For example, we’ve always clashed over the colors of our skin on the most rudimentary scale, and we’ve also clashed over religious differences as well, like the Jews and the Nazi mindset in World War II. Obviously, presences of mental retardation are no different than differences in race or religion in this respect. Some would say that this is just the norm for human behavior, that it is therefore justified to denote the mentally challenged. But I would say that this statement is pretty much invalid, as we humans have advanced intelligence on our shoulders. We recognize abstract relationships between seemingly different things using this analytical skill for benevolent causes much more than separating two seemingly same objects into different classifications with the same skill, resulting in wicked action. Therefore, it is not natural for us to be purely mean in intent even if it is pretty natural for us to be analytical.

Please do not classify people by single traits, people. More often than not, multiple traits for an individual must be considered to provide an accurate judgment of that person. That includes all trait types including race, religion, sexuality, and mental agility.