This idea of 'learning difficulties' seems to have a very broad scope.
Co-incidentally, I was reading an article about Susan Boyle, in the same newspaper, who has also been reported to have mild learning difficulties.
Although bullied at school, she has two GCEs - English and History. On top of this she was responsible for looking after her elderly parents until
they died.
No-one seems to have stepped in and said she wasn't competent enough to care for them.
It's hard not to make a comparison between the two cases although it's probably not very logical.
Link to article about Susan Boyle:
www.dailymail.co.uk...
We must all have been to school with kids who weren't very bright academically, but who shone at sport, woodwork, art, any number of things that
didn't require them to be the intellectual equal of their 'brighter' classmates.
I agree that a 17 year old getting pregnant before marriage with a an older man isn't seen as ideal by everyone, but let's give them credit for
staying together and wanting to marry and bring up their child together.
And honestly, in some parts of today's society she would be considered a late starter as far as having a baby is concerned.
I am worried about living in a society where anyone can be labelled as having learning difficulties and we're all supposed to stand by, nodding
wisely as if we know what that means, and see them being deprived of their rights. Often by people who wouldn't be considered geniuses in comparison
to the rest of the population either.
Edit to add a link to Wiki for an explanation of what learning difficulties / disabilities are:
en.wikipedia.org...
I have started to wonder what the procedure would be if it was the father who had learning difficulties. Would authorities be able to take a newborn
away from a perfectly competent mother on the grounds that the father might be a liability around the child or unable to earn a decent wage to support
his family?
[edit on 7-11-2009 by berenike]