Misconceptions of M.R

Mental Retardation.

First of all we need to understand that Mental Retardation is not a disease like  fever, cancer, hepatitis etc.

It is a condition. And when it is not a disease that means we do not need to provide a cure for it. Thus we need to focus all of our attention and energy for habilitation of the person affected in the society.

Now what is Mental retardation? We will not go into the definitions and try to be more lucid here.

Mental retardation is a delay or slowness in the mental development of a person. It is a condition and not a disease. Person with this condition will have less mental ability or intelligence than others of his age. So a child who is ten years old may behave like a child of 3-5years.

Technically, to call a person mentally retarded we see these things:

1)      Intelligence Quotient:   It should be below 70.

2)       Behaviour:  The child is lacking in appropriate behaviour as per his or her age group.

3)       Age : Child should be below 18 years of age.

The prevalence rate of MR is 2-3% of total population. About 30 million people in India are Mentally Retarded  of these about 15million are below the age of 10.

Mental Retardation and Mental Illness

It is generally seen that the persons with Mental Retardation are generally called mad or idiotic. But it is grossly unfair to call them by these names. Just have a look at this table and distribute it freely to aware as many people as you could.