In Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, John Isidore lives by himself in a San Francisco apartment and is often derided as lacking in intellect, even though his capacity for empathy and innate knowledge of the surrounding world is vastly superior to other humans.

Isidore is labeled a "special" by society, a negative term meaning he has diminished mental abilities, distorted genes, and has failed to pass the minimum faculties test. A "chickenhead" is the more common pejorative given to people like Isidore. It is a way dehumanize him, just as society has done to the androids.

What is ironic about Isidore's confusion of "biological" and "mechanical" is that he knows better than anyone in the story who is an android and who is human just by careful observation. He has an extensive EQ (emotional quotient) regardless of the fact that his lower IQ (intelligence quotient) causes him to mix up the terms.

Hannibal Sloat is Isidore's boss at the electric animal repair shop, and while he may not respect Isidore in the same way he does other people, he's usually careful not to talk down to him. Sloat is shown to be more empathetic than most. However, when Isidore confuses an electric cat and a real one, even Sloat lets slip the derogatory term "chickenhead."

This all leads to the idea that society, not Isidore and not the androids, is the real problem—how it sees some of its members as having lesser worth. And even Sloat, who may be kinder than most, is shown to be part of the problem.