[Locked] Deformed = Stupid?

I just saw The Elephant Man and one question that came up was, Why do people assume that deformed are stupid?

This movie is about a deformed but intelligent man. But still treated like a monster.
(For more info about the the elephant man.)

I understand why people try to avoid them. But to assume that they're stupid!
just because their leg and/or arm is deformed doesn't mean that their brain is it too.

So why do people (in general) assume that deformed are stupid?

People who have something wrong with their heads, e.g. mental retardation, often have something 'wrong' with their looks too. Down syndrome is a good example. That could be why people assume deformed people are stupid. I've never made that assumption about extremely deformed individuals, like the elephant man, myself, though.

Sometimes, people are stupid. Very often, humans fail to recognize intelligence. Whenever someone looks strange, he or she is bound to be called stupid. For example autistic persons were thought to be completely stupid for a while. Nowadays we know that they are not.
It is just another example of exclusion due to someones physical appearance.

The Elephant Man or Joseph Merrick was born 1862 and died 1890, and you know the education system and knowledge of back then would have probably been lacking and everyone would've just assumed he was not as intelligent as them. Now though we know that just because some is physically dis-formed doesn't mean they have any mental handicaps.

The fact he was considered to have the previously coined von Recklinghausen disease(Neurofibromatosis-1) means he must have shown lack of ability to comprehend logistical or analytic ideas surpluses by multiple developmental disorders. While the stigmatism behind deformity and lack of social interact could have perhaps attributed to a lack of banked knowledge, giving note to frierian view on intellect in which schooling falls directly under crystallized intelligence, and oppressed a natural intelligence, I strongly doubt he would have been capable to develop past spatial articulation and motor controls even with a removal of his physical deformities. So, in theory, while deformity does not inherently link to stupidity, this man can be classified stupid when judged using his contemporaries as a control.
(And actually, if your leg and hand are deformed there's a good chance your brain is also, as you put it, "deformed". While it would more sense to say dysfunctional, there are various factors to consider. One, if you suffer in physical deformation during developmentary stages, it can be said that the nervous system would concurrently be damaged. Two, with a collection of ailments, sub-ailments and symptoms will appear, that is simply unavoidable if you cannot preform relatively human-like homeostasis because of conditions garnered under the original. And three, depending on the type of deformity, autonomous movement and subsectioning will occur, as with this in which cell manipulation is reduced to impossible and control is nonexistent, cells will move through the blood system and even if it doesn't directly reach the head, it just needs to deform the area around, which did occur. As such, it is safe to say his brain would be affected. Truly, it would be stupid to think his brain the ONLY thing unaffected by his unfortunate condition.)

This is SD post something serious next time!



And that's you answer to, why do people (in general) think deformed are stupid?

You are talking about a whole different thing, dear. Next time try to read the op and stay on topic.

Mod edit: Don't double post.

No it's not. Tell me. How does heightened alcohol levels during pregnancy affect a differentiated system in a way that cause congenital disorder? Is this alcoholic beverage laced with freaking sulfonamides?

Most diseases that affect physical appearance do not affect you mentally, but it might make it harder for you to speak or do other stuff.

They probably avoided him because back then they didn't really understand birth disorders like we do now.

Wouldn't having physical deformity affect you emotionally and as such affect you mentally? They probably avoided him because he was DEFORMED ; last time I checked even with our understanding of birth disorders (which only halfly covers the laundry list of faults that must have plagued him) people would still avoid him.

In the movie they also say,


If he was intelligent then he would understand much more and that would only make it worse. And in this case he is intelligent.

Well, to the question " Why do people think deformed individuals are mentally challenged?", I would answer this:

To find the answer, as always (or often if you like it more), you must seek it in the past.

When in the olden days a child was born deformed or with a handicap, it was naturally discarded from society, and left to die, because it was different from them, a "spawn of the devil". If one survived, it would become the scapegoat of the whole community, wether it be the children or the adults, because he was ygly, because his legs were bent, because his back was hunched. If something happens, its his fault because he is different and acts strangely.

But why does he act strangely? Because he was not educated or "nurtured" in a human society, nobody taught him right from wrong, what came from appearances, etc, etc. Because of this, people thought the individual stupid,because to them these things were evident, but he didn't know as no one told him. Thus deformed=stupid is born.

As an example for that, look at The Hunckback of Notre Dame

But that was then you might say, today we are tolerant, today we understand these people and integrate them in society.

In what universe is that?

Today, modern medicine and global hygiene and wellfare have reduced considerably the number of deformed children being born. Thus they are rarer, and that rarity accentuates their differences.

Of course, their family will look past this most of the time, or prentend to at the least. But still, we, as a society, see these people as pseudo-aliens to us.

Our ego and our pride tell us that these "things"can not be part of the human race, because that would put us on their level.

Thus we "beastify" them, we correlate their minds with their shapes, refusing to acknoledge them as our equals. That is why, in my opinion, this reaction takes place. Simply because we can not accept for them to be different from us.

I can't say I am impartial on this, because I too have fallen into my egos trap. But
this is something that must change for the better in our society, and that means accepting ourselves as imperfect, which since the middle ages hasn't been so successful.

Cheerio

Your point in case? Alright so it's good for him to be ignorant and we can't imagine his life. What was your idea for discussion?

You've proven your point. That was a stupid post.

I think the concrete reason for why people thought he had subpar intelligence can be gleaned rather easily from that passage.

To see how the British society was in the late 19th centuries, I am not surprised this happened to him.
If I were to ask people this question now, I dare to say there still are some people that think that he is stupid.

For the reason why, I think it's a human nature for them to assume things.

If I see a book that is lying on top of a table with dust all over the cover, I would assume that the book was never touched and left there neglected.
But i don't know the truth, it could be dusty because of other reasons.

Assumption can get the better of human IMO.

Being labeled stupid can really damage some ones education through most of my years of school it was thought that I had a learning disability but it was just that I wasn't interested in my current education and they wouldn't give me any thing challenging for instance in 1st year maths I did the whole terms curriculum in a couple lessons I slept most of the time (I was in the lowest class).

I think even if they are deformed and stupid they may not have any mental problems it just might be they haven't been giving the chance to do a lot of things. I remember if you were crippled in any way you would have to be in the special ed classes so if you were to brake your leg you'd have to go to special ed.

Look at history. Giant animals that looked scary were considered stupid because of them being all brawn, and no brain. But, it also has to do with personal bias that everyone has. People are judged by symmetry of the face, so the less desirables are like John Merrick who have little to no facial symmetry. Another factor is the way he had to drag himself around. People are used to seeing other people take long strides, and when they see someone like him who has to drag parts around they believe he is retarded or mentally inept, because of that preconceived notion. I guess it also falls into people who see others with down syndrome, they usually drag themselves around, and how droopy and bloated they look in the face. So they automatically assume John was a man with severe down syndrome.

How about instead of hypotheticals about appearance, we go with an almost empirically provable reason? Say, oh I don't know, inability to be coherent and intelligible -> implies motor function impairment -> implies retardation? (Surmised from quote I linked in previous post.)

In before nobody reads this.

I have seen a lot of children with deformity way back in the orphanage. as much as i can help it, i dont make jokes about there appearances or make them feel stupid. i am an adult so at least i know the drill
to boost there confidence about themselves.

Because in times before advances in science and medicine, people actually assumed that and called it fact.

When in reality, that is not always true. However, it scares people enough that they avoid disproving their opinions (if they still think this).