LogFAQs > #968954334

darkmaian23 posted...

Is that really the reason? I know that people often reach for "sheltered", "spoiled", or "immature" when dealing with a mentally or physically disabled person who behaves in a frustrating way. Sometimes it is because they really aren't functional, or have uncontrollable aspects to their disorder, or it can be because they are assholes. Only an expert can really tell the difference. At the end of the day, while it is nice to extend extra help and tolerance to those who struggle, a person is ultimately answerable for their actions. A mental or physical illness--unless you've got like a brain tumor or dementia or something--isn't an excuse for consistently bad behavior.

He needs to be banned until he can function in a non-abusive way.

i agree with the first half of this statement insofar as certain handicapped/developmentally disabled people can appear to be higher functioning than they truly are. i've got about a half dozen ASD/developmentally disabled/otherwise handicapped people in my immediate/extended family, and i was an interim teacher at a school for developmentally disabled children for two years. the biggest mistake i see people make with higher functioning disabled people is mistaking proficiency in verbal communication for cognitive ability.

obviously no two handicapped people are alike and there are certainly many high functioning ASD/DD people who are very intelligent. i didnt know duncan, and i'm really only going off what i've seen in this topic and the one he got banned in, but what i keep hearing about him asking for advice and not taking it, parroting the opinions of his caretakers, etc. reminds me quite a bit of a handicapped person in my family. like duncan, he's also very adept at verbal/written communication, and having a conversation with him about his special interests you'd have a hard time believing he's actually got an IQ of 65 and an almost nonexistent working memory.

how disabled is duncan? like you said, only an expert can tell. and that's about where my agreement ends. personally i'm not keen on making an attempt to hold him (or others like him) accountable for his actions because i dont know if hes capable of even understanding why theyre bad in the first place. i dont mean that as a dig, but like i said, a lot of people overestimate the abilities of developmentally disabled people just because they can speak/type coherent sentences, and on the chance that he's more disabled than he appears, dunking on a handicapped dude for the crime of being annoying/wrong/shitty on the internet just feels kinda gross inside tbh. if you cant deal with him, just block him and move on if he comes back.