Is it normal that i'm afraid of mentally retarded people?

82% Normal
26 Comments

One day, this mentally retarded boy at my school had this...fit. We were all like quarantined in the cafeteria and I could hear him out in the hallway. It's really what triggered my fear...but every time I see one...I shake and I get really, really scared. Is this normal for me to be scared of them?
I don't hate them at all, but I'm terrified of them...

Voting Results
82% Normal
Based on 345 votes (284 yes)
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Comments ( 26 )
  • [Old Memory]
    13 years ago

    Im scared of them too! They are strong like gorillas and have no control.

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  • whatsfordinner62
    13 years ago

    Back in my day one hit me in the back with a hula hoop and i punched him in the face. Yes, feel afraid

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  • The_big_X
    13 years ago

    I have a slight fear of them too. The blankness. Me not understanding their condition. The unpredictibility. The fact that it's like a baby in an older body. Just odd.

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  • KillerWombat
    11 years ago

    I'm only scared of the ones who are loud and/or bigger than me. I was in the gifted class throughout almost all my years of K-12 school, and the gifted classrooms were often placed right next to the other end of special ed.. and we'd hear them pounding on the walls next door and screaming bloody murder without knowing what the hell was going on with them. I'm definitely afraid of any source of sudden loud noises, and it's even scarier when they're huge and brawny and I'm a small, thin female.. so yeah, I definitely know where you're coming from. When I can't predict my environment, I get extremely freaked out. D:

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    • NobodyKnows
      7 years ago

      Unfortunately, women's rights to feel safe are considered less important than letting the mentally disabled do whatever the hell they want.

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    • Lilac2
      8 years ago

      I also have a fear of sudden loud noises, and a long history of people having no compassion about it. I fear severely mentally disabled people because I nearly was punched by one at a group. Also it seems many parents of mentally disabled people think it's funny or cute when their son harasses women. Then they attack the woman for rejecting their son, when it's normal to not want to be a lifetime caretaker of a mentally disabled person.

      I also realized that many advocates for the mentally disabled people are also bullies. Like the recent episode of South Park where the social justice frat bullied Kyle for saying Caitlyn Jenner wasn't brave and stunning. You get bullied for having boundaries with mentally disabled people. You're told you don't understand, and are called names like ableist. It's especially hard if you have issues similar to mentally disabled people like sound sensitivity used against you to justify bullying acceptance from you.

      I'm typing this because I'm meeting a old school friend who is in a NAMI group and despite being told there won't be severely mentally disabled people in the group, I have a hard time trusting that since I was lied to in the past and would show up only to find everyone was severely mentally disabled.

      I'm considering taking my anti-anxiety meds with me and hoping for the best. They are Gabapentin which are well known to be virtually impossible to OD on, it's like a miracle drug! I mean you shouldn't take a fistful of them, but if they wear off you can take 2 more and not worry about hitting a daily limit on them. I also unlike in the past can choose to leave the group now that I'm an adult.

      The sad thing is getting support for this is so hard. If you're not outright told you're a monster for not wanting to be around mentally disabled people, you're told to understand. Well why can't they understand it's not a choice, my anxiety makes it impossible to be around severely mentally disabled people. I became sui***al at the thought I'd have no life other than being a caretaker to severely mentally disabled people because I was labled with Asperger's Syndrome. Sadly it's not like being surrounded by Spencer Reids, which I would love.

      Now there is no support for people who are high functioning or who have Asperger's because it's ableist to not include severely disabled people in groups. I met a crisis counselor at the hospital after being bullied again for trying to explain my physical inability to tolerate severely disabled people. It does hurt when people tell you that you must tolerate behavior you can't, it's why I have anxiety and depression. The crisis counselor was very angry I got no support because his sister was high functioning and got no support because it all went to the severely Autistic people. So I now know it's not just me who's suffered this, and it was wrong that I had to suffer at all. When you've been guilt tripped most of your life for being unable to tolerate severely mentally disabled people, you believe you deserve punishment for it.

      I appreciate anyone who read my rant, I'll try to update on how tomorrow goes. I was just posting this here because people who can't tolerate severely mentally disabled people are treated like s***t. Many of those people have milder mental disabilities. I'm just so tired of having no one I can talk about this with who understands, besides my mom who has grown tired of hearing about it a bit. It really has become like that episode of South Park, people are still bullies even if they're bullying for the "right" reason.

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  • anti-hero
    12 years ago

    Most of them are very sweet and loving. I work with the special Olympics and sometimes they just can't handle all that is going on around them and they flip out. But I don't think any of them would ever hurt you. So fear not.

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  • bluesun
    12 years ago

    yeah i do fear them too, the are unpredictable, but i won't punch them in the face, i try to avoid them.
    its not their fault that the are born that way.

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  • grneyedgrl
    13 years ago

    I think it is normal to be scared of things we don't understand. I am afraid of homeless people, but I feel so bad for them. I always wonder about their story, and what brought them there.

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  • SwimBikeRun
    13 years ago

    You probably are just afraid because you don't have regular interactions with people with disabilities. When students with disabilities have outbursts, like the one you described, it's often because they are frustrated because they can't effectively communicate their needs. You have a right to be scared around anyone you don't know. But don't be afraid to offer a smile or a wave if you pass someone with a disability in the hallway. You just might make her day and give her a chance to practice social skills that she is probably working on.

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  • tori
    13 years ago

    Well, I am to a point. Once at work, a person I knew went to lunch. While crossing the street a "retarded" person came up behind her and started hitting her screaming "i know you were in my house". There is a halfway house down the street from work and she escaped from there. That's the only time I got scared.

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  • Galvani
    12 years ago

    Sigh... "normal" people can kill just as much, or more.

    "normal" people are probably more aggresive.

    The fact "normal" people dislike, fear, or hate handicapped people just proves you aren't as mentally stable as you might think. They are human too, just as much as you.

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  • Katehhhhhh
    13 years ago

    I'm the same :/

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  • undefined300
    13 years ago

    their supposed to have super strength. damn crazys, they are scary though espicially the loud ones or the ones that have turrets or watever it is they have.

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  • Mynamesyoda
    13 years ago

    In our brain we see them as unstable people, they can literally kill a person in some cases and say it was an accident. Me? hell yeah im scared of them

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  • Cosmicgiggle
    13 years ago

    I avoid them like the plague. And they all look the same. Hate to be hateful, but I don't lime them. They are unpredictable.

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  • CuriousPenis
    13 years ago

    kick one in the face, youll overcome your fear.

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  • UltraFlames
    13 years ago

    Same for me. They're disgusting! Not even humans imo.

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  • NobodyKnows
    7 years ago

    I didn't use to be afraid of them, because the mentally disabled *themselves* don't bother me all that much. What I've learned to be TERRIFIED of are the social politics surrounding them.

    If a disabled person does something that momentarily freaks you out, or makes you not want to go near them, there is often hell to pay from their relatives or caregivers. Any sign of preparing yourself for the unpredictable is labeled as "prejudice," as if you're just supposed to know, without the years of training they have, what each individual disabled person's habits and behaviors will be like.

    I don't have any problem around the high-functioning ones like my co-worker. But the ones who can't/shouldn't be left unsupervised are nightmares. You never know what they'll do, and you're not allowed to protect yourself in any way. And then people wonder why the mentally disabled aren't integrating into mainstream society. People, equal treatment doesn't mean special treatment.

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  • NobodyKnows
    8 years ago

    I'm sorry, but this is one of the most hilarious things on the Internet. The silliness of this fear combined with how much of a politically incorrect taboo it is just makes me lol.

    I hope you can find a way to manage your fear. Most people are at least a tiny bit uncomfortable around the severely mentally disabled. You are simply experiencing an extreme of a normal reaction.

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  • mew14304
    13 years ago

    It just having a bad memory of one I'm terrified of spiders becase as a child I was bitten by one

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  • daydreamer394
    9 years ago

    Well, this explains the amount of hatred.
    No, it is completely abnormal.

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  • antinormo
    12 years ago

    go kill yourself normo.You are discriminative and genocidal like all mentally normal people. Therefore you are a bigot and should go die.

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    • NobodyKnows
      7 years ago

      Please be a troll.

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    • moomoo563
      10 years ago

      dude shut the fucking fuck up

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  • [Old Memory]
    13 years ago

    You probably just don't know how to react to then

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