It all depends. If they got in trouble with the law, frequently they were sent to mental hospitals rather than Prisons, and this was considered more humane than tossing them in with hardened criminals. Very often retarded people were sterilized to prevent them from committing sexual crimes. This was very controversial but it was done, and in fact was endorsed by such a famous judge as Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Simply they killed them because they thought they were possessed by the devil or they were broken. Sometimes they actually "tried" to cure them by putting them on something and spinning them really fast to spin the retardation out of them. But now we actually know a lot more about why they are this way. So now we treat them nicer and tend to there special needs and they try to make them a little smarter. Back then it was best to ship the kid off to a live in school for 2 reasons. 1 because it was a great embarrassment to the family and 2 because they were uneducated on how to care for a mental retarded person. Of course our views changed because people now know how to take care of a family member with mental retardation and most are no longer embarrassed to raise a mentally retarded child.

Physical disabilities affects someone physically often you can see when someone has a physical disabilities. A learning disabilities can't be seen just by looking at the person, it comes out in how they learn, read, write and so on.

Two to three percent of the population is mentally retarded.

TThere are quite high as it comes in different types of mental retardation.

No, people with Asperger's Syndrome are not retarded. They have average to high intelligence, but have difficulty understanding body language and other non-verbal cues.

(This is somebody else)

Aspies on average have above-average intelligence. It more-or-less is a mental condition where you think more intellectually and less socially. They may find things like small talk unimportant, or downright stupid. Aspies typically have difficulty doing things like maintaining eye contact, reading body language, understanding something in context, etc. A lot of the time they seem off in their own world simply because they are thinking about the bigger picture. They are often very eccentric, needing to eat certain foods or sleep in a certain position, although it oes from there to refusing to sleep in a hotel where the drain in the shower is in the center of it (one of Woody Allen's habits).

In a way, an Aspie is Socially retarded, but usually very mildly. In every other department, they have distinct advantages over the norm.

A few people I hope you have heard of with Aspergers:

World Leaders:

Adolf Hitler

Alexander the Great (supposedly)

Al Gore

Sarah Palin

Peter The Great

Louis VI

Abraham Lincoln

As well as more than half of the people that signed the Constitution

Celebrities:

Dan Akroyd

Keanu Reeves

Marilyn Monroe

Elvis

Michael Jackson

James Orwell

Tim Burton

Gary Newman

(The actual) Lawrence of Arabia (not the actor who played him)

Craig Nicholls (had an extreme case)

Woody Allen

Robin Williams

Geniuses:

Einstein, he failed almost all of his math courses and was beleived by his parents to be "a retard"

Nikola Tesla

Rowan Hamilton, you may not have heard of him, he was a mathematician

Archimedes (Supposedly)

Socrates (Supposedly)

McKinnon (He hacked several NASA computers, as well as the U.S Army and U.S. Airforce)

Artists (writers for the most part):

Isaac Asimov

Charles Schulz

Warhol

Graham Bell

H.P. Lovecraft

Mozart

Michelangelo

Beethoven

Charles Darwin

Mark Twain

I'm sorry there are literally hundreds of other important people; as in practically everybody who ever did anything remotely important. The unfortunate thing is that people who put them down by assuming they're retarded or just freaks cause about half of them to be depressed, or insane. A massive number of Aspies kill themselves, usually because they don't fit in.

I am an Aspie, just so you know.

EDIT: I did not have the heart to delete the entire post although it is largely fallacious, biased and wrong. First; Only one or two persons in this list was diagnosed by a doctor or a psychologist, all of the historical figures lived in time where the knowledge of autism or aspgers did not exist; therefore it is no accord of their own or doctors of the time that they had AS. Dan Akryod joked about having aspergers and AL GORE, Sarah Palin and other famous person listed have never been diagnosed with Aspergers nor have mentioned it before; the writer seems to see Aspergers as a joke or has a below average IQ. Speaking of which; intelligence is not affected by the disability. Those with Aspergers can be dumb, intelligent or average, they fall within the normal range of intelligence. The speaker is obviously biased as he contends "aspies" are special and more intelligent and accomplished than "normal" people. If you want to learn about Aspergers go to a medical website.

http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/tc/aspergers-syndrome-topic-overview

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/aspergerssyndrome.html

OK well u can tell probably by if they run around like they are challenged or start throwing there water bole around bite people frequently even when told to stop or if u hit them back? i own a dog who eats so many ice cubes he runs around with them in his mouth, i brought him to the vet and they said that was a sign of retardation he also runs into things like doors he thinks he can open until he runs straight into it :/ . . hes about a 2 year old rottweiler now, and loves people and his toys but hes just so weird somtimes. he bites me in this one spot right by my but? but i see alot of dogs do that so im not to worried about that. but yeah u mught just wanna bring your dog to a vet if this is happing

Certainly it is a handicap or disabling condition.

All alive beings can be mentally retarded.
Yes, and the causes could be birth trauma or shock, accidental brain damage- like the many accidents cats survive- but might not thrive. a relative of mine had a cat called Bippie that went around clawing people for no reason, and waged war on cockroaches, evidentally thinking they were mice. the Vet said the cat was retarded as he clearly was not blind. flashlights of variable focus are used to veterinarily test for blindness or visual impairment- clearly cats can"t read eye charts.

When a person is mentally challenged, it takes a lot of patience and kindness to help them, you do "not deal with them" as you put it, the first thing is to have compassion and try and think what it would be like if you were in their shoes.

Using diagnostic criteria set forth in manuals such as DSM and ICD. Assessments involve tests of intelligence such as the WISC, WJ, PTONI, and DTLA. Concurrent deficits in adaptive behavior are also required for the diagnosis. Mental retardation is a developmental disorder. Therefore, it is diagnosed early in life.

They can become fairly self-sufficient and in some cases live independently, with community and social support.

Well the ones that are going way over the speed limit, and the ones that tailgate really shouldn't have one at all since they're without a doubt very dangerous to begin with.

Most drivers seem to be mental sooner or later...

yes, phenylketonuria progressively leads to mental retardation. In phenylketonuria, there is lack of enzyme phenylalanine oxidase which generally oxidises phenylalanine to tyrosine. Hence, accumulation of phenylalanine occurs. This leads to a mousy smell a well as mental retardation.

You can check yourself into a hospital or treatment center, but a doctor has to make the diagnosis.

Maybe in Washington, DC< you don:t have to be crazy to work there but it helps./

He has Savant syndrome.

Psychologists can give the abnormal Denver developmental screening test to determine the amount of retardation.