class and the mentally disabled

[moulinrouge]

What class are the mentally disabled in? Or are they a class of their own?

Most of them can't work so i don't think they can be considered working class.

[Railyon]

Classes are defined by their relationship to the means of production.

If you don't own any, you're working class. Police may be an exception to that.

[Communix]

No, the mentally disabled are not a "class". Where are you getting this from?
And yes, most mentally disabled people DO work. If only inside special institutions, but they're still producing and still making something.

[hatzel]

Most of the so-called 'mentally disabled' can and do work.

[moulinrouge]

No, the mentally disabled are not a "class". Where are you getting this from?
And yes, most mentally disabled people DO work. If only inside special institutions, but they're still producing and still making something.

Those who work in institutions rarely produce surplus value that's why those institutions need funding.

I could have better asked the more specific question to what class people who are not able to work belong to.

[Left Leanings]

The category used here of 'mentally disabled' is too broad.

There are people who have 'learning difficulties', usually a condition they are born with, and it can be harder for them to acquire the skills most people take for granted.

And then there are people who experience 'mental illness', such as depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia and related psychoses.

It can be hard for people with 'learning difficulties' to find and sustain employment. But only if their condition is severe. Many milder cases are accommodated quite easily into mainstream schools and employment. And even more complex cases can work with the right support.

Regarding the 'mentally ill'. One in four people in the UK experience some form of mental illness at some point in their lives. The vast majority of these people remain in employment whilst they are coping with them, and of those that spend some time 'on the sick', many return to work, and often quite quickly.

In the case of schizophrenia, for example. A full third of people admitted to hospital with this condition, experience only one 'episode' of the illness, and never become unwell again. Somtimes they remain on a 'maintenance' dose of medication, but often this is not so.

I know plenty of people who have been diagnosed with very serious conditions, and who have returned to the workforce. Where they have failed to be reassimilated into this, often they do voluntary work instead, and so are still meaningfully occupied.

I feel that all categories of disabled people (unless they own the means of production, and are are directly related to capital), are working-class. If they are employed, they are wage labour. If they cannot work, then they receive the 'social wage'.