A Couple Of Questions About Mental Disability And Status.

But I was thinking, especially more recently, about people with mental problems and intellectual disabilities. And the general idea of just how people are differently abled. Really we all are, you know.

Kim Peek is the savant who was the inspiration for the character in the movie "Rain Man". People were amazed by the fact he could remember historical dates and events so well. Really, anything he was ever exposed to. According to Peek's father he was able to memorize things from an early age, maybe 16–20 months. Peek could speed read too, and at a very early age. But you know, his IQ was 87. That is just at the borderline of mental disability. And one teacher at community college told me in 1995. That may not even legally be considered a disability. I think Peek had other problems too. Like face recognition, that gave him the status disabled.

People were surprised to learn how low John Wayne Bobbitt's IQ was. He and his wife Lorena were in the news in 1993, when she cut his penis off and was sent to a mental hospital after her trial, supposedly for Battered Woman Syndrome. Lorena Bobbitt eventually revealed John Wayne Bobbitt's IQ was 83. His is lower than Peek's was. But people were surprised back then, I remember. Bobbitt seemed so cleaver and conniving at the time.

Rosemary Kennedy was an interesting case. She was deprived of Oxygen for a couple of hours at birth because the doctor was delayed. She appeared outwardly to be normal. Just look at her in the old family photos. She is seen smiling and carrying on a conversation with her siblings and family. But her highest reading achievement was "Winnie-the-Pooh", her family later revealed. But her father Joe Kennedy thought she would be accepted as normal by elite Massachusetts' society. She met Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) in 1938. And her parents told "Woman's Day" magazine once that she was studying to be a kindergarten teacher and perhaps may become an actress one day. American psychologist and eugenicist Henry H. Goddard theorized that Rosemary Kennedy probably had an IQ between 60 and 70, or the mental age of an eight to twelve year old.

These three cases show a lot of things. Actually, for one thing they show that simply how people perceive you can make a big difference. And also, I was thinking, recently and for some time now. Maybe it's the area of your brain that is affected by your intellectual impairment. That would correspond to different sections of any IQ test, obviously. And maybe some sections of your brain weren't affected at all. Maybe they are even better than normal. For example, maybe Rosemary Kennedy was poor at reading, but a genius in math.

I know I had birth trauma, I was told in 2011. The doctor obviously meant lack of Oxygen because my mother was in labor for over 12 hours. And he also told me in 2011, it caused Cerebral Palsy. I am a little confused by that. Cerebral Palsy. It can be caused by brain damage at birth. I think I read somewhere that it is also on the intellectual disability spectrum. Is that correct? I know there are a couple of things that determine intellectual disability. When it comes to your legal rights and whether you receive benefits, the law is one obvious thing. But basically, when the damage to your brain took place is important. Because if it occurred before you reached important developmental milestones, that alone makes a big difference. (In the US, they say if the damage occurred before age 18, for some reason. And if it prevented you from reaching a milestone.) And also what part of your functioning is affected is important. Is the skill/s it affected important for functioning, for being independent, for being able to simply take care of yourself? These are obviously all important, for someone with a disability. Correct? And probably I would imagine what your culture thinks are the most important disabilities. In a nation of farmers, something that affects that ability would be the most important, for example.

Also, lastly, what about how you appear outwardly? Can that affect your disability status? It shouldn't. But in the world even in the 21st Century, does it basically?