How would you treat someone like this.

[Lonnie]

If someone you know was say, twenty four years old, but had a mental age of about twenty months, would you treat this person as an adult or toddler?, not forgetting that legally, he/she is an adult.

Many thanks.

[Lonnie]

Thanks for coming on shanx, thats a bit difficult, because as a couple on here already know, she is also Autistic, very much so, and to try to get into her mind, the best way you can describe it, is that she thinks that the world, and everything in it, is here for her use, she doesn't copy, and so doesn't behave in what we would call 'normal behaviour',

Your right, in as much as it is hard, but so is bring up a normal child, we just have it longer, but what makes it harder, is when the so called experts tell us to change the way we treat her, when we know what we are doing, works.

Many thanks again for coming on.

[jen78]

I tend to treat an adult as an adult then, as I get to know them or become more aware of their capabilities and limitations, adjust accordingly.

One of my uncles is mentally handicapped with a very young mental age so I guess it's something I'd been used to all my life.

I have done a lot of voluntary work with people with severe mental and physical disabilities and some of the ignorance out there is very very sad and I was shocked at some of the situations I came across.

I was in a department store once with one of the guests who wanted to buy some perfume. The lady at the counter refused to address anyone other than me and I walked out in the end.

Another time I was with a guest with cerebral palsy, incredibly intelligent man but, due to his appearance, a shop owner came up and asked him if he wanted a lolly like he was a child.

Another time, in a major tourist attraction, a guest with pretty far advanced Huntingtons I was with had a choking fit, not one person came and asked if I wanted any help while I was trying to clear her chest for her, people just stared, similarly when I was feeding her in the cafe.

I think expression and tone is an all important thing as it can say so much and gets across what you are trying to say much easier.