Penny S. -- And in real life, too. Here's what it says on WebMd.com (a major site for medical information in the States) about Cerebral Palsy (just grabbed this today, so it's "up to date" information, according to the experts):

(begin quote) Between 35% and 50% of all children with CP will have an accompanying seizure disorder and some level of mental retardation. (end quote)

And I'm coming to the conclusion that this within a hair's breadth of an outright lie. Having CP myself, I've gotten a chance to get to know, through my life, many other folks with CP, since we often need the same sorts of treatments, and therapies. I was trying to work out how many, just this morning. And it's got to be somewhere around several dozen.

You'd think, if up to half of them are mentally retarded, at least one of those people I've met would be.

Nope. Not one. In fact, every single person with CP I've met has been exceptionally bright (not to boast about my own accutity). What I have seen, though, is: therapists, psychologists, teachers, (and the parents who accept their authority) treat folks with CP as if they're retarded, and not bother to educate, or even talk with, them to the full level of their ability. If my own mother had accepted the diagnosis of the doctor who did my first psychological evaluation, when I was two, I would have been labeled "Severely Mentally Retarded." Instead, that was crossed out, and my mother was put down as "Hostile and manipulative"

(wide, evil, grin).