If a complete stranger who was also mentally challenged asked you for a hug, would you give it to her/him?

That depends. If the stranger is a mentally challenged child or a person with the mental status of a child, then I might consider giving them a hug as long as the situation itself appears safe enough to do so. If I felt uncomfortable, however, or if the stranger came on too strong or became too rough with me, I think I would smile but decline the hug in a friendly manner.

Although the person may only try to be friendly, if he or she is an adult and overly excited to demonstrate his/her friendliness or happiness he/she may use too much force in the process. I remember once, many years ago while I was visiting with a friend in another state, I was trying on clothing in a women’s store in the mall with my then 6-year old son when an older teenager came running over to him and started chasing him through the store in an excited, child-like manner that would have been common among my son and his same-age friends. My son, who was initially excited over the action, quickly shot me confused and uneasy looks to ensure that this type of behavior by someone who was almost an adult was indeed okay.

When I motioned for my child to come to me and remain seated, the older teenager (who was mentally handicapped) kept coming back and tickled my son very hard. After a while my son had had enough and tried desperately to get away, feeling scared. The teenager’s mother, who was standing close by, seemed to think her son’s behavior was appropriate (likely because he had a mental age close to my own child’s) and did not intervene.

Being cognizant of his condition, I at first did nothing until my son became scared of the person he thought to be an adult. I then had to step up and gently ask the young man to stop chasing my son, since he had grown “tired�. It was a difficult step to take and I felt uneasy and somewhat accusatory doing so, even though I did my best to remain respectful of his condition.

I found it was very hard to take this step that could potentially be misinterpreted by the teen’s mother. However, the safety and wellbeing of my own child came first. Yet, if it had been me that the teen had tried to hug or tickle, I might have let him for a short time, as this would have been similar to a child my son’s age trying to hug and tickle me.

I have a niece with Downs Syndrome who had run up to me the first time she saw me (she was already ten years old at the time) and hugged and kissed me without even knowing me. There would have been no way I would have not returned her hug or spent the time with her when she did not leave my side for the entire day that we visited. I could only hope for a stranger that she decided to hug while out shopping, to do the same for her.

No, but it has nothing to do with his mental state, I just don't like touching others/being touched.

I always feel really uncomfortable being touched by strangers, so I would smile and tell them "not everyone needs/wants a hug! " I think you can be nice about it, but even with a developmental disability, they should be able to learn some rules and norms. One big rule that they should be hearing all of the time, through repetition from their caregivers, is that people have the right not to be touched.

They should know that they have that right as well, so that should be driven into their head.

I have had this situation happen to me on a few occasions from both adults and children. It has never made me feel uncomfortable. I have always complied with the hug.In most instances the guardian of the person does a good job to keep the hug short so as not to interfere too much with you.

Honestly, of the 3 times that I have memory of such an occurrence I can remember how each instance cheered my day.

It would depend on the setting that it was in. It would also depend on the reaction of the people with them when they asked. I have a friend who has a brother like this and everywhere you go he does this to people usually we just tell him to come on but sometimes people will actually hug him and thats OK too.

I waitress at a bowling alley, and we have a league for St. Louis Arc, which is a program for people with developmental disabilities. I have one lady who used to call me Angie, but now calls me Tammy (my name's Amy), and she wants to say hi, ask me how work is, and hug me every week. I don't mind one bit.

Another girl likes to grab my hand and hold it against her face or rub it, and she also hugs me some weeks. Again, I don't mind at all. A developmentally disabled man who volunteers with our junior league and bowls on a regular league always grabs my hand and kisses it when he sees me.In these situations, I would never turn them down.

I have many more bowlers with the SLARC league who just want to shake my hand every week. I think they've learned that this is polite interaction, and, since many are autistic, I applaud their efforts to be social. However, this is a slightly different situation than you inquired about.

I'm not a stranger to them because they see me every week, and I know that they have family or caregivers close by, so they are in a safe environment. If this happened in store or something, I would more likely dodge the hug and take their hand to help them find who they are shopping with, like I would do with a young child.My reaction would definitely vary based on the situation.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.