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STJ School Forum → Personal Response Questions → Insane in the Membrane
Number 5 in case you wanted to know.
People back in the day got enjoyment out of mental
illness, while we treat it as some special thing. I've
known some funny mentally challenged people, and I
laughed when they did funny things. I'm sure I got some
weird looks. Is it bad to laugh when they are trying to be
funny, in case some one portrays it as making fun?
As long as your laughing with them, not at them I suppose its okay. It's not like mentally challenged people are souless bores. Laughter is the best medicine after all.
It may be bad to laugh because of the sense that if someone just joined the conversation and you are laughing at a mentally challenged person, they might think you are laughing at them. Most of those people shouldn't look at you with disgust because they need to treat mentally challenged people as equals and not treat them with care and precaution.
This is a little bit of a touchy subject...I too, have laughed at the occasional mentally challenged being. Do we not laugh at non-mentally challenged people when they do something funny? It is a natural reaction to laugh when we experience something amusing. If the person in question is indeed trying to be funny, then it is alright to laugh. Laughing with them helps them to feel more comfortable in their surroundings, and by laughing we give them confirmation that we accept them.
I kind of agree with Dykstra. If you're laughing at their jokes, or maybe even their screwps, then that's cool, it's when you laugh at them because they're mental that it borders on the cruel. However, I don't think people were laughing at Hamlet for being crazy. They just thought he was...well, crazy.
This will sound bad but...
are they equals? Darwin wouldn't consider them
that because of survival of the fittest. We can
take care of ourselves, while they can't. If we
were in the wilderness, they'd be the first to get axed.
I wouldn't be so quick on the survival thing. I've seen some retty vicious mental people. What about psychotic axe murderers? They're the ones doing the axing.
Even If they are mentally challenged, i don't think you should make fun or laugh at them.
in case some one portrays it as making fun.
There will always be someone who is going to take it as a bad thing. I figure you should just try and treat them as normal human beings the best you can. We have a new society that we have to watch what we say, how we say it, and when it is said.
I agree with dykstra, mentally challenged people don't have the same privaleges as normal people. They can't really control everything that they do, and when they do make a mistake, it is not like they meant to do it. It seems to be pretty common amoung people now to laugh at someone when they get hurt, especially when it isn't a very graceful accident. We can laugh if they laugh at it, but keep it inside when they are not laughing
Equals... well, let's try to reason this one out. Of course anyone would say that they are equals, but when we really look at the facts, are they? Depending on the severity of their illness, they might not be able to reason their way through problems, or physically get themselves out of problems-hence the axing. So if someone is both mentally and physically lesser than us, than are they regarded as lower caste individuals. On the other hand, any one of those blokes in the special olympics could kick my butt anyday.
Rightfully so, Kesela. Today, we usually forget that the term "crazy" or insane" can mean many things whether it means psycotic mass murders or mentally challenged people.
mentally challenged people don't have the same privaleges as normal people.
The mentally challenged indeed do have the same priveledges that normal people do. Name one thing that we do as a society that has not been adapted to meet their needs.
They can't really control everything that they do, and when they do make a mistake, it is not like they meant to do it.
I wouldn't be so sure with some of them. I met a guy with cerebral palsey and he knew EVERYTHING he was doing. It was just like his mind wasn't totally connected with his body. His mind seemed like it was functioning perfectly, it was just his body couldn't function like others, so it was a mental illness. He would ask questions (it just took a bit to understand what he was trying to say) and make jokes. Some can control everything they do and say.
Equals... well, let's try to reason this one out. Of course anyone would say that they are equals, but when we really look at the facts, are they?
They may not be equals in the sense of physical or mental status but in society I believe they should be treated as equals and they mostly are. Almost every business with its own parking lot has handicapped spaces and most public places are wheelchair accessible. Society has done well to meet the needs of handicapped people and thats how it should be.
Indeed society has done well to meet certain needs of the handicapped people. But just because you are mentally ill, does not make you mentally handicapped.
How doesn't it make them handicapped?
STJ School Forum → Personal Response Questions → Insane in the Membrane