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IDIOTS,IMBECILES AND INTELLECTUAL IMPAIRMENT by Catherine Slater, M.A. Cantab
A History of Mental Handicap/Learning Difficulties from 1000AD to 2000AD-


Chapter Five-Inclusion, Civil Rights and a better life???-1945-2000

The 1944 education act introduced compulsory secondary education. It also introduced the 11 plus segregating children into secondary modern and grammar schools and subdividing children with impairments into 11 categories including educationally sub normal ,maladjusted and those with speech defects as well as blind, deaf and delicate. Seriously disabled children had to be educated in special schools More and more special schools were opened in the 50s 60s and 70s.

In 1948 with the introduction of the National Health Service in Great Britain many institutions were nationalised and became hospitals .This led to more emphasis on the more helpless patients and on those with disturbed behaviour being admitted to these hospitals to the exclusion of those only requiring accommodation and simple supervision. The National Assistance Act of 1948 imposed a duty on Local Authorities to arrange for the welfare of disabled persons.These include people who are "deaf, blind, dumb, and other persons who are permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity or who are suffering from a mental disorder" Mental disorder covered both mental illness and mental handicap.

In the 1950’s and 60’s it was recognised that environment plays an important part in the development of social and mental ability and in 1970 under the Education (Handicapped Children) Act the 70,000 children who had been considered uneducable under the terms of the 1913 MDA act got the right to education under a new category of "educationally sub normal-severe "and 400 new special schools were formed out of the old junior training centres

.The Disabled Persons employment act of 1959 says a local authority must make provision for sheltered employment ,training and assitance in finding work for registered disabled people.The chronically sick and disabled persons Act of 1970 put a duty on local authorities to provide services for disabled people such as practical assistance in the home, help with getting TV, radio, library and other recreational facilities,help with travelling to services arranged or approved by the local authority, assistance with adaptations to the home for greater safety or comfort, holidays, meals at home and elsewhere and help with getting a telephone.

training

But attitudes change very slowly and a leaflet from as late as 1973 published by the then National Society for Mentally Handicapped children states:


" when informed by their doctor that their child is affected with mongolism and warned that it may show some mental backwardness, parents often imagine the worst and think that their child will never walk or talk.Although a few mongol children are as handicapped as this and they can live at home when young, they will probably later need permanent hospital care...........

.

..... Due to their slow intellectual growth most mongols are precluded from making satisfactory progress in formal education of the type provided by Local education authorities. However they benefit from the less formal type of education which they receive at the special centres provided by the local Department of Health although these are not always yet available in the more sparsely populated areas of Britain.

IN addition to the two already mentioned there is a third considerably smaller group of children with mongolism who are even less backward and devlop intellectually from a half to two thirds the rate of an average child. Many of this group can profit from formal education , particularly when given in the smaller classes with specially trained teachers in schools for the educationally subnormal"

From a leaflet published by the National Society for Mentally |Handicapped Children entitled The Child with Mongolism ( under which is the strap line 80 to 90 per cent can learn to do simple tasks) Printed in 1973

In 1981 at the time of the trial where Dr Leonard Arthur was accused of murdering a baby with Downs syndrome such children were described as "walking timebombs of disease and infection"In a different trial concerning Alexandra another baby with Downs Syndrome she was described as "an unfortunate pathetic creature", " a helpless and mindless mongol"

The Disabled Persons Act 1986 put a duty on local authorities to assess people for services.The 1981 education act and the 1989 Children Act, have helped to improve servicesfor children. The 1993 Community Care Act took services away from Long stay hospitals and placed them in the community but without extra cash. The 1993 Education Act and the new Labour legislation are trying to increase choice for children to attend mainstream schools and the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 hopes to ensure that disabled people have equal civil rights in some areas.It makes it against the law to run a service or provide goods and facilities in a way which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to use the servbice or goods. It is against the law to refuse to serve someone who is disabled. People will have to provide equipment or other helpful items to make it easier for disabled people to use their service. People will have to remove physical obstructions or provide other ways of letting disabled people use their services.The government is able to set minimum standards for new public transport vehicles and for new homes and buildings.The Community Care (direct payments act)1996 gave local authorities the power to make cash payments knowns as direct payments to community care users for the purchase of their own support.However, the new code of practice on Special Educational Needs and the education section of the disability discrimination act have both been weakened by pressure from people who see inclusion as expensive.

In conclusion, how does life for an "intellectually impaired " person in 2000 compare with that of a "natural fool" in 1000 AD? Their standard of living is much better. Almost everyone in Britain today lives more comfortably than the King lived in Norman times-they have flush toilets, gas and electricity, good transport, a variety of food whatever the season and 24 hour a day entertainment from TV. They have much better health care and education and a welfare system to protect them from starvation and destitution. However the legacy of segregation is still with us today. Many people coming into the community in the 80’s and 90’s have lived for more than 50 years in a mental handicap hospital. Many children are still educated in special schools,and those in mainstream encounter prejudice and ignorance and a mindset of league tables while adults are still catered for in specialist day centres and residential homes.

Eugenics is still with us in the abortion of genetically impaired foetuses and attempts by scientists to eliminate some genes. The 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill lowered the upper limit for abortion to 24 weeks except where the baby is disabled .People, like the bio-ethicist Peter Singer still preach Tredgolds dogma of infanticide. Meanwhile , disability benefits are still too low and are not universal, and charges have been introduced for community care which used to be free.Meanwhile a document published in 2003 by the department of health "Fair acc"ess to care services - guidance on eligibility criteria for adult social care has chilling echoes of the 1911 Act when it divides people into four eligibility bands - critical, substantial, moderate and low.

Nevertheless, public attitudes are slowly changing, the Disability Discrimination Act and legislation on inclusion though not going far enough recognise that people with learning disabilities have equal rights and their opportunities for education and employment are much better than 50 years ago. Let us hope that during the 21st century the harm done in the 19th and early 20th centuries by eugenics can be put in the past and that just as the 20th century brought about civil rights for women and former slaves, the 21st century can bring about equal rights and opportunities for people with learning disabilities


Introduction Ancient times until 1200AD|
Chapter One .The mediaeval period 1200-1450|
Chapter Two Renaissance, Reformation and Beyond1450-1800|
Chapter Three Incarceration, Segregation and Eugenics 1800-1945|
History of Disability | World Association of persons with disabilities . UK inclusion site, | The alliance for inclusive education
American inclusion site| Australian site with positive images of people with Down's Syndrome| Gordon Slater's response to the case of a doctor who was acquitted of murdering a baby with Downs Syndrome in 1981.
United Parents protesting against Singers views|

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