Mentally Ill/physical Disability In Thailand

[skylar]

I was at a train station this morning when I saw a man run down the train stairs and fall over, dropping some personal items. He got up and started running straight down the platform with his eyes towards the roof of the platform and banged into a passenger (you could tell he was acting abnormally). Some of us screamed and I ran for help. The man was unable to get up, and was bleeding from wounds to the head and seemed to be having some sort of minor fit. A lot of first aid people were holding his hand and consoling him as the train arrived and left the platform.

It made me think and want to ask about how the mentally ill or those who are mute, deaf or blind in Thailand are treated in public in everyday life, in the event of an accident, in family situations and so on. I've never had much contact with these people in Thai society (only with a Japanese Down's Syndrome student at school and maybe seen a few blind and mute people in the street using Thai sign language), so I am wondering if you have any knowledge to share.