# How bad was Forrest Gump's mental deficiency?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-was-forrest-gumps-mental-deficiency/614226>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 28, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-was-forrest-gumps-mental-deficiency/614226 "2012-02-28T04:48:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-was-forrest-gumps-mental-deficiency/614226/41 "2012-02-29T15:17:39Z")

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> [@Kozmik](#):
>
> All Forrest Gump knew was that he ended up in a line and was pushed up to microphones, and that this man “wearing an American flag for a shirt” asked him to “tell us a little about the war, man”.
> 
> And what does Forrest say? Watch the film again, and pay attention to the scenes when Forrest is in Vietnam to get an idea.

As per IMDB, he says \*“Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their mommas without any legs. Sometimes they don’t go home at all. That’s a bad thing. That’s all I have to say about that.” \*

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**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-was-forrest-gumps-mental-deficiency/614226/42 "2012-03-01T09:02:16Z")

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It’s possible he was hard of hearing. It wasn’t until the 70’s that a lot of mildly “mentally handicapped” kids were dx as being HOH.

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-was-forrest-gumps-mental-deficiency/614226/43 "2012-03-01T11:46:32Z")

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Personal data point - my mom’s sister, who just turned 66, is mentally about 10 or 11. I know she went to school at least thru the 10th grade (maybe 1962 or 63), but I’m pretty sure that was all. She can read and write on a very elementary level, she knows how to tell time - in fact, she’s obsessive about taking her meds on time and being fed at exactly the same times every day. I have no idea what her IQ is, but she does have a pretty remarkable memory about certain things. On the other hand, she’d never be able to live on her own - even I recognized that as a kid.

I remember my mom telling me the doctors recommended that my grandparents have her put in a home, but they refused. I’m pretty sure if she was a child in the system today, she’d have had a better outcome, although I still doubt she’d have learned to be independent.

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