People with Down Syndrome/Mental disability in Poland

My boyfriend made a sarcastic comment the other day.....which I found very annoying!

He said he found it strange that there were many people with Down Syndrome or learning disabilities in the UK and that you don't see many in Poland!

I mentioned to him that we believe in allowing People with disabilities to live as normal a life as possible in the community, with the additional care that they require.

Anyway it got me wondering, if what he was saying was true - i.e you don't see people with mental disabilites in everyday life in Poland? And if this is true where are they all? Are they all in institutions, is this the reason you don't see them? What kind of life do they have? Or is it true what he says (very doubtful!) that Polish people are much healthier and have less children with disabilities?

Hope this topic doesn't offend anyone. Just got me thinking.

Not at all, it is something that crossed my mind when I was in Poland.

Perhaps the poles have better genes and don't breed as much offspring with disabilities ;)

summer hit 2006

you don't see them because they are stuck in their houses because it's so hard and almost impossible to move around... places are not accommodated to their needs...

people feel better if they say sarcastic things about others just because they don't know how to act around those people... in general, people in PL suck at that point...

Funny because I was talking to my wife about this when I was in Poland. She lived in an area where there are quite a few handicapped people but we never actually saw them because their ability to move around was severly limited by poor lifts, no ramps, crap pavements. There seems to be no attempt at providing facilities of any kind for them.

On a related issue there seems to be one set of baby changing facilites in the whole of Krakow so if you're a mother with a baby you may as well stay at home also.

I just started noticing this too. Now I am a daddy I regularly push the pram around which has meant that I started noticing how hard it is in Poland. In the UK you don't notice the dropped kerbs at every crossing until you need them I guess.

Plus as a driver it's great that you can park on the pavement and not worry about a ticket, but a couple of times people have left their cars so far across the pavement that I can't even get the pram around. Very annoying...


and they're in Ikea I reckon. Ikea has thought of everything. Last time I was there they even had a microwave for heating up baby milk. Brilliant.

It wasn't that many years ago when we locked people away in institutions in the UK, that doesn't happen now simply because people get more help, both financially and respite support, friends of mine who are twins, one of them has a little girl who became blind after meningitis and her sister's little boy (well not so little now he's 16) is severely mentally handicapped. Sh$t happens.

What about mental disabilities though? Those people that are still mobile, such as a person with down syndrome. Do you see many people like that out and about?

I wondered if there is less acceptance than in the UK? Are there facilities in place for families to take care of their children with mental disabilities or do they all go into institutions?

how can you have better genes if your country is closed of to outsiders completely. One benefit of historical immigration is that differant patterns of gorups of people breeding with other groups actusally creates STRONGER genes and weeds out weaknesses in genetic codes by natural selection.

britian having an ethnic mix of germanic, anglo saxon, celtic, scandanavian, iberian etc. etc and having suffered mass 20th century immigraiton, gives US better genes.

and as for the original quesiton, have you seen the state of orphanges and asylums in eastenr europe, people with mental dissabilities are treated terribly in poland and the rest of eastern europe.

There is no good system of introducing mentally disabled people into normal lives. They just stay at home locked up. And many people think they should, instead of trying to live within the community.

I remember how (positively) shocked I was, when I was served by a mentally disabled boy in a youth hostel canteen in Germany. In Poland, nobody would just think of it - such boy would stay at home and never earn a grosz. I know that employers who hire disabled people get some support from the state but for some reason they don't do it.

Also, ill people don't receive therapy which helps them to live within a community.I know one guy with Aspergers who's left on his own just because he's intelligent. He desperately needs some professional therapist to teach him basic social skills, but he doesn't receive any therapy. I don't think anyone would want to hire him after he graduates because of his behaviour (he's the most annoying person I've ever met and I'd never hire him), so I guess he will stay at home with his parents and get odd jobs from time to time. If someone took care of him, he could lead a normal life because Aspergers is not even a mental disability. The whole system sucks.

At the post office in Krakow works (worked) a guy with down syndrome.

So, maybe something changes. But these are still exceptions :(

They're all working in the Visa office.

Apparently your genes are not of the highest quality if you spill letters into the computer without understanding of what you are writing about. Polad was traditionally a multicultural society: Poles, Ukrainians, Swedes, Germans, Lithuanians, Latvians, Hungarians, Mongolians, Turks, Jews, Czechs, Russians, Tatars, Scotts, Greeks.

Back to the topic; when I lived in Poland there was a separation of the handicapped/mentally retarded from the so called normal kids. They went to separate schools that were designed specifically for persons with disabilities. Not too many were seen in the streets. I think Poland will take a few more years before all the facilities and awareness matches that in some other countries.

The fact is simple, when genes are not exposed to outside integration, then they become more pure. Simply put, would don't get pure bred dogs because they are mixed with other breeds.

I worked in vision imping aired/special school in krakow so there are people who are handicapped..

But poland as a country isnt exactly set up with the best facilities to support handicapped people...all those stairs at station, and the pavements are the best either

From what a student told me at the school, its extremely hard for someone with mental or physical problems as the government doesnt give enough funding in helping parents care for the kids and according to the students, only now are carers becomig more popular, but again people in poland probably couldn't afford one

But hopefully it will all change in the near future..

Not really surprising. Why hire "mentally handicapped" If you can have a normal worker ?

Because everyone has the right to a "normal" life and there are varying degrees, some can intigrate in to society and some unfortunately because of the severety will never be able to. Or would you prefer that they be locked away or may even gased?

Tax Breaks, social responsibility, lower wages for simple jobs not requiring a high school graduate....

So, apart from lower taxes etc.

Imagine you employ a 'normal' person to a very simple job. Such a worker will be bored and pissed off with doing such stupid stuff. He or she would feel humiliated to do this instead of getting something more demanding.

And imagine you employ a mentally handicapped person who is not suitable to do anything more complicated. Such a person will be very happy to have a real job, earn real money, he or she will feel needed, important and a part of the 'normal' society.

Would you prefer to work with happy and thankful subordinates or with the ones who hate the lousy job you give them?

Well said.
Unfortunately, the times they are a-changin' Look at what's happening with the financial markets here in the US. Soon able-bodied (and -minded) people will be competing with illegal immigrants and those with lower IQs and physical capabilities for the jobs that these same able people now believe to be well beneath them. Financial stress trumps pride. What will happen when today's "middle class" discovers that the majority of the lower-paying jobs are filled with illegals? What's going to happen to those people? Will they be ridden out on rails? Will there be violence against them? Will there be a kind of financial civil war? It's scary. And it's inevitable. And it's not just going to be in the US, either. As we go, so goes much of the world.

I think that you can see quite a few people with mental disabilities in Poland - I haven't noticed difference comparing to England. I remember -when I was living in Krakow- seeing nearly everyday mother with little girl with Down syndrom waiting for a bus. I think she was taking her to school. There are also few groups connected with Church who take these people out for some entertaining. To be honest I didn't see so many disabled people where I live in Uk. Different problem is with people who are physically disabled- Our houses, buses , shops.....are not always designed for them. That is why they often have to stay at home. If someone lives in flat in 4-floor building without lift how can he get out on his own?

I think that the people in Poland are not very well used to accepting "different" people, no matter if it is their color, religion, or differences in ability like mentally handicapped.

HOWEVER, I did see at Carrefour that they hired a bunch of deaf people to work as cashiers. There were signs up that our cashier was deaf. I chose to go in one of their lines. I was sooo tickled to see them being hired.

As to people with Down's. There are schools for them. I don't think they ever plan on them working. They are big on "renta" here...People can seem to get a disability payment for quite a few things...just being "nerwowy" can render some a cash payment monthly if they can get the right doctor to sign on. Why work for just a bit more if you can stay home and watch tv?

When wages catch up and there is actually a difference between working and getting renta for some "barely noticeable" disability,...why should they work?

I haven't seen alot of people with Down's. but I've seen plenty of people with walking problems like polio victims, etc.

They do have special schools and Domy Spoleczny for them.

Good sign that soetning is changing in Poland :-)

very true


That's so cool! Poland is starting to become a civilized country.