Autism and the word "ret*d"

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I don't nesscarily associate autism with being ret*d. Those are two different terms. Autism is when someone has social skill delays and sensory issues; it ranges from mild to severe. Mental retardation is when a person has an IQ of <70. So why do people think all autistic people are mentally ret*d?
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"If you're lost you can look and you will find me, time after time." - Cyndi Lauper

People react to what they see. If they see that someone had delayed social skills, they automatically think that that persons IQ also must be much below average. They simply don't understand that you may be capable of the same things they are because they don't understand you. Hence, you must be ret*d (in their logic).

What also plays a role is that most aspies and auties who do cope in life don't stand out that much. They are just 'a bit weird' for the public, as far as they can tell. And that is if they can tell, because most people don't recognize an aspie if they don't know them. They are just a stranger to them, just like all others. But if you see someone who is mentally ret*d, most people can tell.

Most people only see the auties who are mentally ret*d or really can't deal with social situations (not just unhappy with them, but not able to handle them). They don't see the rest, just the 'extremes' on the spectrum. So what they think is based upon that image, they simply don know the rest. That's why they think that most (if not all) people with autism are mentally ret*d. You can't really blame them for not knowing that, that's the way people generally are.

Because they are uninformed.

Because it is general ignorance. What I have found is that "autistic" is in the "tic" area of words, like "epilepTIC" and spasTIC"... if you follow this theory, then you can see why ignorant people will simply imagine that any word with the "Tic" tag must be some kind of mental/physical disability.
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Often because people don't know what that person is. I work in IT and I can get quite annoyed when people do the stupidest things on computers, but in reality it's just that they don't know better, and mostly don't have any interest in computers. Most people don't really care that much so wouldn't go out of their way to find stuff like this out, and really this goes across the board with all subjects and all people

ret*d has been replaced with "intellectually disabled"

Actually, mental retardation is when a person has an IQ score of <70 AND has difficulties in daily life. There are quite a few people who are bad at taking IQ tests but who are not mentally ret*d because they do just fine and never need help.

Alex--We still use the term "mentally ret*d" here in the US because that is what is in the DSM. Around here, calling someone "ret*d" or "a ret*d" as an insult is still considered offensive; but "mental retardation" or "mentally ret*d" is not.

Anyway, people often think autistics are all MR because they don't know a lot about autism. A lot of autistics are MR, but many aren't; and those who are don't have the same characteristics as MR alone.

Autism does have a close association with mental retardation. In fact, twenty years ago, many people who are now diagnosed autistic would have been diagnosed mentally retarded--we are "stealing" cases from the MR category, and this is probably part of the increase in autism diagnosis.

However, I think it's very important for doctors and parents to remember that when an autistic person fits the definition of "mental retardation", this means different things than if he were not autistic. Autistic people have different development patterns; and while it's a fair guess to say that someone with simple MR caused by being on the low end of the Bell curve (the cultural/familial type) will be slower to learn to read or do math, you can't make that assumption about someone with the autism/MR combination. Social skills are often a relative strength for people with MR... but for those with the autistic/MR combination, they will be a weakness. In fact, you really can't make very many assumptions at all when autism is concerned.

I think that IQ, as a measurement for autistic people, is not particularly useful. IQ compares you to the norm--to the typically developing population--and assumes that if you score lower or higher, you are part of that population but just going at a slower or faster rate. This is not true of autism; development for autistics often occurs in jumps and plateaus, progresses at different rates in different areas, and sometimes even goes backwards.

So autism/MR is a different thing from MR alone... It's not the same thing as simply adding the traits of one to the traits of the other.

i can pull a fairly convincing ret*d act. Only behind closed doors though!

Because no one uses the word "ret*d" to mean it's literal definition anymore, they just use it as a general insult. The ret*ds

It's because people don't know any better, so they make presumptions.

I'm not ret*d, and others haven't interpreted me as ret*d, but when I see someone who is acting a bit different, I get a sympathetic feeling for them and just think to myself, ''oh, he/she must have some sort of a disability,'' simply because I know all about disabilities. But you get a NT who don't know anyone with a disability, they don't always have a clue, and so tend to look at someone with severe autism or something similar and just think, ''ret*d weirdo!'' or something, which is pure ignorance.

:jester:

It's because of the stereotype. I couldn't get diagnosed in youth because of this. Autism is supposed to be kids who cannot speak, who sit in a corner and self injure. That is what the stereotype was and still is to some extent. People think the stereotype must have a low IQ and that's why they cannot communicate and prefer to be in the corner alone. The autistic shades of grey are becoming more apparent, but that stereotype still exists in the minds of some.

Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 31 Oct 2010, 5:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The term 'ret*d' is best avoided, because most people don't know what it means and use it just to be offensive. And it's because people are ignorant.

Children tend to use all sorts of inappropriate words to demean anyone who looks, talks, speaks, walks etc. even slightly differently to the "norm" and it's a habit some of them don't grow out of as adults.

For instance, as a child I was called a "Flid" (a childish attempt to reference Thalidomide) a "spacca" (Spastic) a "ret*d", a "gimp", and several other wonderful names.

Ah, schooldays. The best days of your life!

I can do sarcasm, even If I feel compelled to explain that it was sarcasm after using it.

My wife has to attend college to do a work related course. On her entry form it has questions with boxes to tick. In the "Learning Difficulty" list there is a box for "Autism Spectrum Disorder" but under the "Learning Disability" list is "Aspergers Syndrom". So according to that college Autism is a learning difficulty and Aspergers is a learning disability.
I had to point out to the wife that they had it wrong, aspergers is a "learning ability" not disability.