Hi Divegirl, no I don't think you read it in the wrong context atall. The people I work with may have learning difficulties and may not as you say, have the mental agility of their actual age but they are adults and as such have a right to be supported to be able to be as much a part of society as you or me. If I were to go to work and say "well I actually do believe in Santa", people would think I was a bit mad, so I don't think it would help in a society they have to work so hard to be accepted into anyway.
Nothing gives me the right to decide what people should believe, but I think it would be irresponsible to let someone go on believing something into adulthood that everyone else learns as a child is not real. I am an atheist but support peple with their religious beliefs without prejudice. However I believe that if I were to go along with Santa being real that I would not be respecting them as adult people. It would mean I would not be seeing them as the same as you or me and that I saw them as some kind of eternal innocents or that for some reason they were not entitled to have the same information as we have. For someone who does my job that would not be an acceptable way to view poeple with learning difficulties. Hope that makes my position a bit clearer and you don't think I was just being mean :)