Mental Age Theory Hurts People with Intellectual Disabilitie

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firemonkey
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19 Jan 2018, 10:46 am

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Have you ever heard the phrase “that person has the mind of a five year old In an adult body?” It is something many adults with intellectual disabilities, like me, have to deal with. For years, medical professionals have told parents of newly diagnosed Intellectually disabled people that they would mentally be children for their entire lives. Even through I am a 28-year-old, pregnant, married adult, as well as a faculty member at University of Washington, people still tell me that I think like a child. These words are not just offensive language. They can also take away our rights to normal adult lives. Historically, so-called “mental age theory” has stripped people with intellectual and developmental disabilities of our dignity, our reproductive freedom and our parental rights. Age theory has also been used to strip us of the rights to make adult choices, such as buying alcohol and tobacco or having sexual relationships.



http://nosmag.org/mental-age-theory-hur ... abilities/



I wouldn’t have minded being told I was behind in some ways, if it was true and if I got help for those areas of difficulty. I wonder which is worse being told you are behind in certain ways or not getting the help and support you need to flourish.

I’m 61 with a track record of 44 years diagnosed severe mental illness. I have probable NVLD and possible autism(traits). I also ,based on childhood, have possible/probable dyspraxia. Such things were never really recognised for above averagely intelligent children from the early 60s to mid 70s and thus I went, and stayed , under the radar. As a result I have never got help and support for those things. Result- I 've never worked and can count the number of friends I’ve had on one hand.



magz
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19 Jan 2018, 10:50 am

Does being mentally a child mean not losing your curiosity and joy? Then I want to be one! ;)
Really, adults are boring.


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League_Girl
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19 Jan 2018, 11:43 am

Depending on someone's level of retardation, I find it very insulting to just see someone as a child just because they have a intellectual level of a child and treat them as such. They want to be people too and date and get married and also have kids and have a job and have their own freedom. Not be defined by their mental age and treated as such.

My ex acted like I was intellectually slow because he would ignore me if he felt I was too immature and he didn't like my smile and how I expressed my excitement and scoffed at what TV shows I liked and what video games I played and stuff. He even connected it all to ABDL and I found it insulting and connecting my personality to it. Because he connected it to it, he said it made him feel like a pedophile and said it felt like he was with a child than with an adult. Then when I tried to give him the same taste of his own medicine by saying I don't want anything to do with him when he is like a teen and being immature like one too and watching teen shows, he called it a game. So narcissist. You can't win with these people or get them to see how flawed their logic is. They just turn it around on you and find excuses or call it a game. Another reason why I am not with him still, he was toxic and he blamed it on PTSD. Supposedly when his ex called him a pedophile it traumatized him. :roll: He sure wasn't doing anything to overcome it and why even be with me in the first place if I was such a trigger for him? But yet he had no problems acting immature with his child and no problems acting immature himself and his excuse was "I am more like a teenager, you are like a 5-8 year old."

So yep this is all insulting.


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bethannny
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19 Jan 2018, 12:21 pm

Keep in mind most people with ID's are in the high functioning range (I.Q of 60-70). You could apply the ''mind of a five year old child theory'' to someone with a moderate to severe ID but this is not the case for the majority it seems. A lot of times you can not even ''tell''.



Joe90
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19 Jan 2018, 4:11 pm

I hate being told things about my age too. I remember when I was 15, my cousin (who was the same age as me) told me I had a mental age of a 9-year-old. That upset me.

It's no good telling me that I have a mental age of a child, because I'm a mixture of any age. I think like an elderly lady, I sometimes behave like a child when hyperactive, I sometimes behave like a teenager when having a meltdown, but I also act my own age too a lot of the time. I think my mental age is my real age, as I'm doing things others my age are doing, but sometimes I need support on some things. Actually I have no exact 'mental age' really. Depends what mood I'm in. :lol:


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ladyelaine
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21 Jan 2018, 1:20 pm

NTs like to think autistic people are like children. I think most NTs have the mentality of middle schoolers and high schoolers.