My wife says that a criticsm of others is often a criticsm of oneself.

After a bit of introspection, I have come to agree.

"Stupid" !!

I never said that!.

kartiya jim, Belly,

I am not using "stupid" in a critical sense anymore than I would use "blind" to criticise someone who had lost the use of their eyes.

Just as "blindness" became "vision impairment" we could dream up some politically correct phrase for "stupidity" such as "minimal mental impairment" (MMI?) or "minimal mental dysfunction syndrome" (MMDS?). But, in the end, we'd all know it meant "stupidity" so I prefer to use the plain English word.

But, I repeat, I am NOT using the word "stupid" in a pejorative sense anymore than I would use the "asthmatic" in that way. I am using it as a neutral adjective.

However, in deference to sentiment here I shall use MMDS from now on.

Spanky,

MMDS has NOTHING to do with lack of education. In South Africa I worked with a man, a refugee from Morocco, who had no formal education whatsoever Not even school. He taught himself to read at age 16.

This man went on to start his own business advising superannuation funds on investment strategy. He developed a computer system for modeling risk which, with updates, is still in use today.

I am talking about people who are UNABLE to benefit from education in the sense that they CANNOT master the skills needed to earn a wage that keeps body and soul together.

So, to rephrase my question.

Should we recognize that there are people who, by virtue of mental slowness, MMDS, stupidity, call it what you like, are UNABLE to master the skills needed to earn a reasonable living in 21st Century Australia? While such people MAY be able to function in some minimum wage jobs, they are in a real sense, partially disabled.

Should such people be given a partial disability pension?

Consider this.

A paraplegic confined to a wheelchair would be considered disabled.

But who is better able to earn a living in 21st Century Australia:

-A competent computer programmer confined to a wheelchair?

-Or a person who is mentally slow?

I think we need to revise our definition of what constitutes disability?

Steven, I think you have a good point. In pushing for a "brainier country" we will leave behind all those who are unable to keep up mentally. This is not to insult them at all, simply to state a fact. At the moment, not all labouring jobs are low paid, but we are looking at a future where that may not be the case. What will happen to all the mine workers when the resources boom crashes? And they are probably the higher thinkers of the labouring class. Many other labourers are paid only basic wages now. What happens when the boom ends and there is a flood into tis labour market? I have a personal interest in this, as have a sister who is a truck driver for a mine in WA. She is great at her job, good spatially, but dyslexic and not at all suited to a desk/office job. She currently earns great money (better than either of her two siblings, who are both professionals), but I dont see it as a long-term prospect given the nature of the industry.

Stevenlmeyer,
I never said education had anything to do with stupidity,I meant the level of education is misconstrude as a reason for stupidity, now who's stupid?

Stevenlmeyer,
Interesting concept;but how would you test for this "condition"?

“Stupid is, as stupid does.” Perhaps this is the wrong sentiment for this discussion, but in my defence, an objective method for determining stupidity based on the actions of an individual would need to be established prior to any policy being established that would classify stupidity as a disability. Furthermore, the difference between Intelligence (the ability to learn, solve problems etc) and how smart or stupid an individual is (knowledge retained and applied), would also need to be taken into consideration. Also there is a substantial difference between ‘concrete’ learning (tangible repeatable things) and ‘abstract’ learning (large intangible concepts) and many people have problems moving between these two areas.

The premise that a disability pension would need to be given to truly stupid individual is also fundamentally flawed, in that often the market requirements for basic skills over pays these people because they have a greater demand then there is for the jobs all the smart people want to do. Not trying to insult any particular industry, but people should know what I am referring to.

Personally, I am a high school drop out (ie left half way through year 11 - with good grades), now I have started Uni and have a Dist. (6.0) GPA. Which I think is a decent result, but this is not said to brag, I have allot of trouble remembering concrete things, numbers, dates, names and I have a lot of trouble spelling. If I was not born into the information era, there would be no way I could ever hand write a pass grade university essay. My ‘smartness’ in abstract leaning would be over looked because of my concrete ‘stupidity’. Hmm, hang on, why am I arguing? Just send me the pension.

Mark