Yeah, I worried a whole lot writing that onion one. (a) I don't want to put down folks who are mentally handicapped AT ALL; (b) I LIKE that the supermarket hires them--and why shouldn't it? They can do the job just fine; (c) I didn't want to come off as seeming to condescend to the guy, or to imply that somehow only a mentally retarded guy could have this insight or say this thing...because I don't think that's true.
So then I thought, maybe I should even leave out that he's mentally retarded. But the thing is, I do think it did play some role in his speaking up. I think your neurotypical people are less likely to say those things to a stranger. Some will. I might, under certain circumstances. But I do think it's less likely. Plus, I wanted to say that he was mentally retarded because a lot of times people tend to devalue or not pay attention to stuff mentally retarded people say--but they shouldn't. Because anybody can say something worth listening to, and I guess that's part of what I wanted to say, too.
Thanks for giving me an opportunity to talk it all out. I didn't want to burden the post with this, but it was definitely stuff I was thinking about when I wrote it.
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So then I thought, maybe I should even leave out that he's mentally retarded. But the thing is, I do think it did play some role in his speaking up. I think your neurotypical people are less likely to say those things to a stranger. Some will. I might, under certain circumstances. But I do think it's less likely. Plus, I wanted to say that he was mentally retarded because a lot of times people tend to devalue or not pay attention to stuff mentally retarded people say--but they shouldn't. Because anybody can say something worth listening to, and I guess that's part of what I wanted to say, too.
Thanks for giving me an opportunity to talk it all out. I didn't want to burden the post with this, but it was definitely stuff I was thinking about when I wrote it.