People have the fundamental right to parent children, regardless of disability.
The rights of any person to pursue life, liberty, and happiness are not conditional on a citizen's ability or individual strengths or weaknesses. Yet, society has typically used a different standard to judge whether people with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities have the ability to parent children. While it is generally accepted that parents without disabilities have individual strengths and weaknesses in their parenting abilities, parents with developmental disabilities historically have been judged on the basis of their weaknesses alone and more harsh standards have been applied to those parents. The Diversity of Families and Parents must be Valued. Parents who have developmental disabilities, like all parents, are diverse in parenting capacities.