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 can not 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