LIBERATED PEOPLE!

Liberated people no longer worry about their future, about their relationships, about their jobs. They have concerned with functioning honestly and with integrity in this moment and the next. They are concerned with doing the work in front of them not out of a need for recognition or wealth or power but out of profound love and respect for those people who surround them and those forces that brought them here. Such an awareness has to change our experience of this world. Such an awareness has to allow for the unbroken presence of happiness and beauty and enthusiasm and inspiration.

There's a person around you who seems different. You've heard people say he's "retarded," but you've also heard people use that word to make fun of each other.

Mental retardation (say: ree-tar-day-shun) is a term that was once commonly used to describe someone who learns and develops more slowly than other person. But it's not used as much anymore because it hurts people's feelings.

Instead, you might hear terms like "intellectual disability" or "developmental delay." But all these words mean basically the same thing. Someone who has this kind of problem will have trouble learning and functioning in everyday life. This person could be 30-45 years old, but might not talk or write as well as a typical 60-year-old. He or she also is usually slower to learn other skills, like how to get dressed or how to act around other people.

But having an intellectual disability doesn't mean a person can't learn. Ask anyone who knows and loves a person with an intellectual disability! Some people with autism, Down syndrome, or cerebral palsy may be described as having an intellectual disability, yet they often have a great capacity to learn and become quite capable person.

Just like other health problems, an intellectual disability can be mild (smaller) or major (bigger). The bigger the disability the more trouble someone will have learning and becoming an independent person.