People with Mental Disabilities serving in Starfleet

[Jedman67]

It might be more helpful to help them find a job that plays to their strengths.

Perhaps.
I have ADHD and I am not at all in a job that is "geared" towards ADHD, but I think I do a reasonably well job doing it.
I wouldn't consider myself ND but perhaps a psychiatrist might. (I did take Ritalin through high school so that is something).

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The out of control population growth is a natural symptom of the setting. Medical advances are drastically slowing the death rate and Federation Socialism had removed the economic baggage of having more children. Big families are now affordable again. It's like deer when you kill all the wolves.

With no food / finance worries, only time, every family having 5-7 kids becomes a realistic option.

Maybe everyone has made the active choice to "age gracefully" and die but it sounds more like longevity science hit a brick wall at some point. Probably just as well since Starfleet forces retirement at age 75.

When the UFP / Starfleet have laws against genetic engineering except for birth defects, there is only so much you can do realistically, once the ban on genetic engineering is lifted or regulated, you can get everybody across the entire UFP living longer, healthier, with improved 'Quality of Life'.

Heck even genetically engineering a few ESP powers into your species becomes viable in the long term.

The whole "Super Powered Designer Baby" and passing on the genes down your lineage becomes realistic once you can legally use genetic editing tools.

 

[F. King Daniel]

They still are. Though I suppose if Paramount continues with Star Trek, the next one will be called Star Trek Country about some hard workin human Yak Ranchers on Dry Gulch V, the world's rootenist tootinist Yellowstone Class M Planet. Starring Robert Taylor, a steely eyes Starfleet Sheriff prone to dipping snake-weed and kicking ass.

You say that, but they actually were developing a sitcom set on Risa before the Paramount sale nuked streaming Trek.

They were trying all sorts of mad stuff.

 

[XCV330]

You say that, but they actually were developing a sitcom set on Risa before the Paramount sale nuked streaming Trek.

They were trying all sorts of mad stuff.

They were at their best when they stuck to making Star Trek

 

[maneth]

With no food / finance worries, only time, every family having 5-7 kids becomes a realistic option.

Possibly, but not every person is going to want to have kids at all, and even those who do, most will not want a huge family. Two or three kids is possible to combine with a career for both parents, but more than that and it becomes much less likely. Some parents, regardless of gender, might be happy to be homemakers, but the majority with unlimited access to as much education as they're able to absorb won't settle for that. Please don't get me wrong, raising kids is an important role in and of itself, but for most people with options to do something else in addition it won't be enough.

Family sizes have gone down as women have gained access to education and post-marriage careers, not to mention family planning services and birth control. This has been true in all societies where women have gained some equality.

Vulcans, at least those who have embraced Surak's teachings, all read as "autistic" to me. I've always assumed that a human on the autism spectrum could serve on a ship with an otherwise all-Vulcan crew without going crazy.

I've read somewhere, might even have been here, a post by someone with autism who went to a con cosplaying as a Vulcan, and they said something like that was the first time that they'd been able to unmask completely in public.

 

[Ricky Spanish]

I've always assumed that a human on the autism spectrum could serve on a ship with an otherwise all-Vulcan crew without going crazy.

If they could consistently handle the heat.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Possibly, but not every person is going to want to have kids at all, and even those who do, most will not want a huge family. Two or three kids is possible to combine with a career for both parents, but more than that and it becomes much less likely. Some parents, regardless of gender, might be happy to be homemakers, but the majority with unlimited access to as much education as they're able to absorb won't settle for that. Please don't get me wrong, raising kids is an important role in and of itself, but for most people with options to do something else in addition it won't be enough.

Family sizes have gone down as women have gained access to education and post-marriage careers, not to mention family planning services and birth control. This has been true in all societies where women have gained some equality.

Vulcans, at least those who have embraced Surak's teachings, all read as "autistic" to me. I've always assumed that a human on the autism spectrum could serve on a ship with an otherwise all-Vulcan crew without going crazy.

I've read somewhere, might even have been here, a post by someone with autism who went to a con cosplaying as a Vulcan, and they said something like that was the first time that they'd been able to unmask completely in public.

That's why I said "realistic option".

From both of my sides family who have massive amounts of kids from my grand parents era, usually it was the grand parents who were deeply involved in helping to raise the grand children while they were young.
Both Mom & Dad worked while the kids were growing up.

That is considered normal for us to have Grand Parents that involved.

 

[InLoveWithJimKirk]

I am jumping in here having read only the last few pages of comments, so forgive me if I repeat another’s idea.

Speaking as a former public school teacher, I have had a lot of experience with real world applications of this issue (albeit in the late 20th and early 21st centuries only!) One guiding concept that helped me was the principle of “least restrictive environment” — placing the student with enough appropriate support that allow them to thrive without hindering or overly distinguishing them from their peers. Students with disabilities did remarkably well when accommodations were accurately identified and appropriately applied or made available, and increased, reduced, or removed as needed. The kids I taught often never knew that “special needs” students were in class along side them. Future century tech will help this as will medical developments and greater understanding of neurodivergence. Ultimately, though, I will never qualify for certain positions with physical requirements; my health and physical abilities prevent it, so that kind of practicality remains no matter the era. But there are so many ways to contribute and participate that are equally valuable— maybe future society will be better at recognizing and assigning worth to each person’s unique talents.

 

[Steinmetz]

I find it interesting that by the time of TNG, Roddenberry was so insistent that humans would have "evolved" mentally and emotionally to the point where there was no grief, people did not fear death, there was no interpersonal conflict ever between Starfleet officers, etc. And yet, he put a counselor as a senior officer and gave her a place on the bridge.

Well, if we'd "evolved" away from those characteristics you're right, there'd be little use for a counselor. It doesn't matter what pressures are acting on your species, we're not evolving away from fear in fewer generations than Mozart has been dead. So let's assume Gene meant "evolved" colloquially, to change and/or healthy growth.

Mental health, like physical health, has to be maintained. If you lift to you're ripped and then quit, the muscles are going to slowly revert back.

Free counselor at the ready? Hell yeah, work that shit out in the present. Or do what we do today and push it all down and let it fester, carry the burdens and the inherited guilt and the other crap, and develop them into phobias, neuroses and disorders.

Gene probably wouldn't have said it this way, but our world runs on dysregulation. He recognized that and had a dream of what a society that isn't designed to funnel to a point.

 

[Hashy]

In the 23rd/24th Century, we (I have ADHD & whats the other thing) wouldn't really exist. Genetic engineering aside, treatments for these things would be highly effective. Basically they wouldn't exist.

Allowing people like us to suffer today with this thing is akin to a hate crime.
I can't access the medication I need, because I need lots of money to get a proper diagnosis from a psychiatrist. But I can't earn the money I need to get a proper diagnosis because of my ADHD.
Enjoy that time-loop episode.. Sigh..

That wouldn't fly in that world. See Future Tense I & II & Bashir's comments.
Barclay would be the way he is in universe because his parents were like our modern equivalent of hippie anti-vaxxer sovereign citizens.
He would never be allowed in Starfleet. Wouldn't survive the academy. He solely exists for plot.

If the disorder was treated effectively, there's no question about eligibility for service. It basically doesn't exist.

 

[Steinmetz]

I'm totally behind the sentiment, but I'm afraid Trek would handle metal health topics with all the tact and maturity it has with sexuality, humor and the concept of evolution. So basically like an uncurious teenage boy.