Mate, When I was training to be RNMH one thing they stressed above anything was that mental handicap definitely is not a medical condition. In fact one of the main things taught to us was that the medical model was a poor model for the care of mentally handicapped people, because the model is based on treatment, and mentally handicapped people cannot be cured. A model based on normalisation or social role valorization is more appropriate. How can such a vast collecion of disorders/abilities be a single medical condition? I don't mean to be contrary, and must admit to having left the profession some 14 years ago. 20:00, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)