Perky, perfect Carolyn and her Alpha Omega Pi sisters plan to win Sorority of the Year by impressing the Greek Council with a killer charity: coaching mentally challenged athletes for the regional Challenged Games. When Carolyn's assigned to coach Pumpkin she's terrified at first, but soon sees in him something she's never seen before: a gentle humanity and honest clarity that touches her soul. To the horror of her friends and Pumpkin's overprotective mother, Carolyn falls in love, becoming an outcast in the process. As Carolyn's "perfect life" falls apart, Pumpkin teaches her that perfect isn't always perfect after all.
"I'm not special, and I'm not retarded."
-Pumpkin Romanoff
2007-06-21 12:08:40 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Maybe it's all about perspective?
2007-06-21 12:19:34 · answer #1 · answered by Allegra 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mental retardation, now called developmental disability, is really not a diagnosis, it is a socially defined concept. Developmental disability is defined differently, or can be define differently, by every state, but is usually defined as functioning two standard deviations below the mean in intellectual and adaptive skills. Who is developmentally disabled in a society is as much defined by the types of skills you need to function in that society as by the level of skills a person has. People attribute their own prejudices and misconceptions which makes the use of the term aversive to the people defined by society in that way. Sometimes people have to put other people down so that people will look up to them, or so they think. Actually, people still look at them funny! And they aren't developmentally disabled! But people try to avoid being looked down upon or dismissed because they do not perform as well as other people.
I hope this was understandable.
2007-06-21 12:27:37 · answer #2 · answered by cavassi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is called self defense and they must think that as they know they really are.
2007-06-21 12:11:49 · answer #3 · answered by Gypsy Gal 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well... it could be that they want to defend themselves.. or not be made fun of.
2007-06-21 12:12:24 · answer #4 · answered by jtownmouse 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cause they arent, they are just different
2007-06-21 12:12:36 · answer #5 · answered by nate 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋