title: Directions.
abstract: Generally, the person with a mental handicap was born with it and will that handicap throughout life. Others may, as a result of an accident, sustain permanent brain damage and are mentally handicapped thereafter. While their handicap is not an illness or disease per se, their functioning ability endures an impairment that may range from mild to profoundly severe and may, in some instances, be compounded by physical handicap. Within the health professions an impaired function, whether mental or physical, mild or severe, warrants attention and appropriate action. In the United Kingdom, it was determined as early as 1847 that people with mental handicap are educable, and progress to that end in nearly a century and a half has been particularly noteworthy in the last 25 years.