| Abstract: | THE FOCUS of this paper is on attitudes to people with mental retardation, the origin of some of these attitudes and the way handicapped people have been treated at different times in history, including our own. It considers the way in which handicapped people are treated today as perhaps being a legacy of former attitudes and beliefs. It addresses the problem of defining human rights in social and individual contexts and how sometimes conditions are required even for an acknowledgement of humanness. The ‘quality of life’ issue is reviewed in terms of life and death decisions, both before and after birth and up to old age. Respect for human rights are discussed‐‐including the right to work, the right to protection, the right to live in the community‐‐from a practical as well as a philosophical point of view. |
