Mental Retardation Term Paper

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Mental Retardation in Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump, a cheerful and good-hearted, but mentally retarded young man with a low IQ, fights in and survives the Vietnam War, and also meets with a variety of important people of his time (between the 1950's and the 1970's). By chance, Forrest actually helps, through some of these meetings to shape certain national events from the 1950's on. However, his own mental deficiencies make him unable to realize any of this. He experiences meetings with Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon. He also comes to be seen by such people as representing his generation (the baby boomers.) Still, everything that happens to Forrest happens merely through a combination of his good attitude and his good luck.

Describe the relevance of the movie as it relates to persons with disabilities or exceptionalities:

I found the movie very touching and warm-hearted, especially when Forrest gets his true love, Jenny, in the end. Still, it was not terribly relevant or accurate as it relates to persons with real mental retardation. Tom Hanks did portray a mentally retarded person convincingly, but still, it is highly unlikely that a real mentally retarded person, however kind-hearted or optimistic, would actually experience the kind of freakish good luck, and being in the right place at the right time, that Forrest does. In that sense, unlike a movie like Radio, the fictional aspects of the story really showed through.

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Describe the text material that was relevant to the portrayal of the exceptionality:

. On page 178, under "Characteristics of Individuals with Mental Retardation," it states that mental retardation is a developmental disability that affects development in a general manner. This seemed true of Forrest Gump in the film, in that his verbal development is below average. He has a very limited vocabulary. But, on the other hand, Forrest's motor skills, compared to Radio's, for example, are not as bad as one would expect. Forrest's social skills also seem at times smoother than those of an actual mentally retarded person (although this may simply be due to his strange good luck).Also on page 178, under "Cognitive Development" (e.g., information processing and problem solving abilities) he doesn't seem to have as much trouble processing information or expressing himself as Radio. His problem-solving skills are never really tested, though, since so many of Forrest's problems get solved through a….....

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