what exactely is an idiot?!

[Rena]

A distant rellie of mine was listed on early censuses living with wife and children and occupation was a Painter, then in three subsequent censuses he was in an asylum and was listed as a lunatic. confirmed he was epileptic.  

.
In early days paint had lead in it and it's well known that it affects the brain.  I wonder if the paint content brought about the fits?

I hadn't thought about the lead in the paint - certainly a possible cause for him developing epilepsy or something with similar symptoms. I wonder if I can put occupation "painter" and disability "idiot" into FindMyPast and see whether there are a lot of painters similarly afflicted.

On one of those antique programmes they often show how things were made in ages gone by - it's surprising how many tradesmen put things in their mouths.  For instance if your ancestor had anything to do with painting murals, or needed to paint a thin line, etc., with a fine paint brush they often rolled the mucky bristles on their tongues to get the pointed shape they wanted before they put it into the paint. What if they mixed their own paints, they'd be inhaling the lead in extra doses wouldn't they?

My other half has an ancestor who died from cancer of the face in his 40's - he manufactured a waterproof paint for use on the bottom of boats.

[stanmapstone]

Radium Jaw was also common among the workers who painted the dials of instruments with luminescent paint. They licked their brushes to 'point' them and ingested the radium from the paint.

Stan

[busylizzie123]

I wonder if the early toys also contained lead ..ie spinning tops or even early versions of meccano?

[Sloe Gin]

Idiot was once a perfectly acceptable term used to describe someone we would now say was mentally challenged.   William Wordsworth's poem The Idiot Boy, published in 1798 was not intended in any way to make fun of or show contempt for the person who is the subject of the story being told.  Wordsworth just used the word that everyone used and understood.

I don't see anything wrong with any of the old terms; they are just words.  Changing the terminology makes no difference to the conditions they describe.   A minority of people will always use these terms in a derogatory fashion.  This will never change, whether it be 'idiot' or 'special needs' (or whatever the current PC euphemism is). 

In my lifetime there have been so many different words and expressions used, and every bright new shiny one ends up the same way, being binned as 'derogatory'.   

[Rena]

I wonder if the early toys also contained lead ..ie spinning tops or even early versions of meccano?

They were originally manufactured to help apprentice engineers and not really toys - having said that my engineering father bought his young 8 yr old son a mechano set in 1949 - I can only remember one piece being a red colour - the rest of the pieces were plain metal.

[busylizzie123]

The same as my brothers,,,,don't think there were many red pieces.....

[whatwasthat]

I despair at times-  I really do.

Liverpool looking down on Birkenhead- Ive seen it all now.

I was under the impression that interbreeding was stemmed by a law or ban on marrying even 2nd cousins which apparently was lifted in the 20th century.

I remember as a child in Liverpool being told that Birkenhead people were idiots due to interbreeding as they were surrounded by water and never moved around.

Sometimes the tales we are told have a element of truth in them

Who was to police this anyway in small villages and islands in those days

[busylizzie123]

Sorry no offence intended, certainly not from me, just recalling the tales told if you read the thread.......i've never looked down on anyone

[Plummiegirl]

I have just read through the threads on here and someone mentioned older mothers and Downs children.

Many of those older mothers were in fact adoptive or foster mothers.

Most Downs children that I have met have all been born to younger mothers, in fact my sis-in-law was only 18 when she had her son.  And when in the hospital she was told she could leave the hospital without him  and he would be put up for adoption and would be cared for for the rest of his life.  She could then get on with her life.   She was horrified.  Yes, it has been hard but the family could not imagine life without him.

2 other families I know with Downs children through work, both mothers were in their late teens early twenties.  More Downs children are born to younger mothers than older women.

Nowadays with amino tests some mothers do opt for termination, but not that many.  One reason you will not see so many Downs children around is that they more often than not they are at school, work, at daycare centres or at home lazing about like other kids.  Most live very normal lives, even my nephew who is severly disabled by his Downs.

This is not a critiscism, just outlining some of the things I have discovered over the years.