Is it normal to have a phobia of mentally retarded people?

I'm afraid of them because my intellect is one of the things I value the most and to think people are without it makes me too depressed, and I don't fear the actual people as much as I fear bad feelings that come with the awareness everytime I see one.

A child's mind in an adult's body is and should be a scary thought. You're right to be uncomfortable around mentally handicapped people. Not that you should judge them or anything; but, there definitely IS a difference between them and "normal" people.

Its normal for a discriminative mentally normal bigot to hate people who is not mentally normal be it mentally ill,mental diorder or mental disabilities.
It is because the mentally normal people are the most discriminative and genocidal bigots in this world.
go fuck yourself you discriminative mentally normal bigot.

Im 14. What i ment by normal is people without things like down sindrom, or stuff like that.

its NOT you its just the same thing with me i just think we dont exactly know what there gonna do

It's normal to feel that way, and it's good that you realize that they were born that way.
I think mentally challenged people make most people uncomfortable just because we have such a strong understanding of what's "normal" and what's "not normal", and when someone is "not normal", we tend to avoid them.

i think you are normal. just as sierra says, you don't have an understanding of them.

therefore you have strong feelings against them.

you know, it's not just the ones that are born that way, sometimes brain damage can come from car accidents, overdoses, being a burnt out drunk, etc.,

i think if you can just be social towards them, but keeping them at arms length, (you know, not too close) you might start to feel more comfortable about having to sit next to one.

you are right, though, you never know how they may react to something. just be nice, act non effected by them, not overly friendly, then you may start to feel more comfortable around them.

We always fear what we don't understand.

My advice to you is to get to know them and understand them. Look for opportunities in your community to volunteer with the mentally handicapped. I don't think you are so much afraid of them as feeling socially akward with them, but this can be conquered- who knows, you may even learn a few things about yourself.

This explains all the bigots.

Hey hunnybunny.... Yeah, if you feel like this, maybe you do have a phobia, but what age are you? I'm guessing quite young. You say "normal people" but what is a normal person? we're all different. Classing people normal/not normal sounds pretty nasty and pretty Nazi. I thik the real problem is with yourself.
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