i'm mild mentally retarded 48 y/o adult male that had been sterilized when i was 20 y/o. my parent's wanted me sterilized because i am mentally retarded, my parent's feel like i am not able to to raise a child because they said i didn't have the mental capacity. i was in special education almost my entire life in school. the doctor did sterilize me on my parent's request to do it. u think it is common to sterilize mentally retarded adult's. this is bob, i typed this in danny's own word's since he does not spell very well.
2006-09-29 17:12:19 · 6 answers · asked by Danny N 2 in Health ➔ Men's Health
20 years ago, anyone who was considered "slow" was classified as being mentally retarded. Not a lot was known about mental illenss and disabilities then. I work with people who have intellectual, physical and mental disabilities. They are all peope, some are extremely loving and quite capable of living a "normal" life, being a husband/wife, being a mother/father. I think forced steralization is terrible and I think in this day and age it is against the law. There are specific laws that protect people with a disability....They have the same rights as us...They have the same rights to choose. Your friend has an intellectual disability...he is not mentally retarded...that is old hat...no-one is mentally retarded anymore. I love my job and the people I work with who have intellectual disabilities are more "normal" than most people who think they are "normal". Or maybe I am mentally retarded too because I absolutely love these people...they are kind, loving and some are very intelligent.....and Danny is obviously very intelligent too because you only typed what he said...He is not mentally retarded at all. He would make a wonderful father and husband...but I dont think Danny should blame his parents...they were probably influenced by doctors and people of that time.....and people of that time were the ones who were retarded to think a person with a disability could not be a productive wonderful member of society...who also were capable of being wonderful parents.
2006-09-29 17:24:10 · answer #1 · answered by rightio 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it is illegal to sterilise a person simply because they have intellectual disability.
I know that the group "Right to Life" have done a lot of work on behalf of intellectually disabled people who were being referred to doctors for sterilisation.
It is not true that a person with an intellectual disability can not raise a child well. It is wrong of parents to make these kinds of decisions on the behalf of their children. It is wrong of doctors to carry out these operations.
Sadly in the past it was almost universally accepted practice to sterilise not only males with intellectual disability but females as well. I have a severely disabled daughter and even in her infancy many older relatives nagged me about finding out having her sterilised. Instead of blindly following their rather drastic advice I talked this matter over with several doctors and nurses and counsellors and made my decision based on medical facts and realities and not others fears.
My daughter is 18 now and still has not been sterilised and will not be sterilised.
I am sorry your parents were swayed by out dated opinions and information. I am sorry your choice to have children or not has been stolen from you. That makes me very sad.
Please Danny keep telling people about what happened to you and how you feel about it.... it is only when people are well informed of facts and awareness is brought to this matter that society will begin to see things differently.
2006-10-01 01:31:49 · answer #2 · answered by wollemi_pine_writer 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Mentally retarded people are capable of having children of normal mental capacity.
2006-09-30 00:14:40 · answer #3 · answered by primamaria04 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
~~I think it was wrong of the parents to request the Dr. do sterilization and wrong of the doctor to do it. many mildly mentally handicapped individuals live a productive life and raise families. i have personally known some mentally handicapped individuals that made excellent parents... another source to make this point is to watch the movie "i am SAM"~~
2006-09-30 00:18:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Well I have a friend and they have a daughter with mental retardation problems and she doesn't think she has a problem that's the way it is, And the parents wanted to have a procedure to prevent conception because they felt she would be molested. No physician would preform that. I believe you are asking a bogus question at the expense of retarded adults.
2006-09-30 00:20:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 4⤋
my mentally retarded sister asked to be sterilized - because she didn't think she would be able to raise children successfully. It was her choice.
2006-09-30 00:22:25 · answer #6 · answered by larry n 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋