A Historical Background of Special EducationJeff McNairCalifornia Baptist University, Riverside, California

Who are people with disabilities?

“Mentally handicapped people are still hidden from history as they are from the rest of life. What history they do have is not so much theirs as the history of others either acting on their behalf or against them” Ryan and Thomas (1987)

Ancient Perspective Angel vs. Devil

Angels . . .Mutterings revelations

Benefit through alms

“Children of Great Spirit”

Angels from heaven

DevilsChangelings

Martin Luther

Punishment for sins

Intercourse with devil

Progress being made, however

1500s organic basis to disability

1600s too little progress, too much time devoted to the mind

1800s things start happening

Wild boy of Aveyron

Captured by hunters, taken to Abbe Bonaterre

Description of Wild Boy

“. . . He is unusual to our food, selecting his nourishment by smell but at the same time indifferent to fragrant or foul odors;lying flat on the ground to drink; tearing garments placed uponhim and trying constantly to escape; walking often on all fours;fighting with his teeth; giving few marks of intelligence; havingno articulate language even devoid of the faculty of speech. Itwas later discovered that the boy’s hearing was insensitive to loud noises and to music; yet he readily heard the fall of a nut.His sense of touch was likewise deficient. As to sight, his eyesconstantly wandered and could not be fixed on objects”

Bonaterre (1798)

Bonaterre’s conclusions (1798)

“a phenomenon like this would furnish to philosophy and natural history important notions on the original constitution of man and on the development of his primitive facilities; provided the state of imbecility we have noticed in this child does not offer an obstacle to his instruction.”

Jean Itard and the wild boy

“solve the metaphysical problem of determining what might be the degree of intelligence, and the nature of ideas in the lad, who deprived from birth of all education should have lived entirely separated from the individuals if his kind” Itard (1789)

Itard’s educational program

Endear him to social life by making it more genial than the one he was living

To awaken nervous sensibility by stimulants

To extend the sphere of ideas by creating new wants

Lead him to the use of speech

To exercise the operations of his mind upon his physical wants

Itard’s results

Sleeping and eating habits and personal hygiene more regular and controlled

Senses of touch and taste became more acute

Circle of wants increased

Learned some monosyllabic words

Learned to sequence objects

Edouard Seguin

Student of Itard

Developed the physiological methodSensory training

Focused on touch

Motor training Age appropriate activities

Functional activities

Work

Meanwhile in the USA . . .

1842 Horace Mann

1843 Hervey Wilbur

1846 Samuel Gridley Howe

1848 First state institution for “training of idiots”

1851 First school built exclusively for “education of idiots”

Seguin gives speech . . .

Excerpt from Seguin’s speech

“God has scattered among us-rare as the possessors of genius-the idiot, the blind, the deaf-mute, in order to bind the rich to the needy, the talented to the incapable, all men to each other, by atie of indissoluble solidarity. The old bonds are dissolving;man is already unwilling to continue to contribute money or palaces for the support of the indolent nobility; but he is everyday more ready to build palaces and give annuities for the indigent or infirm, the chosen friends of our Lord Jesus. See that cornerstone-the token of a new alliance between humanityand a class hitherto neglected-that, ladies and gentlemen, isyour pride; it is the greatest joy of my life; for I, too, have labored for the poor idiot.”

Institutions

1890- 14 states have institution for“idiots”

1904- 21

1910- 26

1923- 40

1958- 47

Seguin ContributionsContributed to the “humanity of idiots”

Spearheaded the education of persons with intellectual disabilities in Europe and the United States

Develop new educational methodsFrequent changes in activitiesAnalysis of tasks into their componentsDifferentiation of senses from intellectPhysical educationSensory stimulationEmployment as an outcome of education

Soon it was realized . . .Severe mental disabilities not curable or even greatly improvable

Only a small number of individuals returned to the community

Institutions not planned with indefinite care in mind

Institutions inundated on 2 sides

Parents wanted students retainedGreater demand for admission of new cases

The ugly “idiot’

Increases seen as real increase in numbers

With urbanization more cases

Idiot blamed for societal problems

Idiocy result of social evil, not personal misfortune

Dr. Anne Moore (1910)

“My study of the situation in New York convinces me (1) thatthe horrors attendant upon feeblemindedness have in no waybeen exaggerated; (2) that the condition is neither circumscribed or local: . . . (3) that there is a crying need for concerted action toward control of the situation.

“ . . . Realize that the feebleminded are a menace to our present day civilization and that the problem of caring for them can no longer be safely ignored. They agree that thedefect is often hereditary and incurable, that it leads to poverty, degeneracy, crime and disease.”

Other developments

1865 Sir Francis GaltonEugenics movement

1877 Jukes’study

1912 Kallikak’s study

Feeblemindedness is hereditary

Dr. Charles B. Davenport (1911)

“There are laws of inheritance of general mental ability that canbe sharply expressed. Low mentality is due to the absence ofsome factor, and if this factor determines normal developmentis lacking in both parents, it will be lacking in their offspring.Two mentally defective parents will produce only mentally defective offspring. This is the first law of inheritance of mentalability . . .the second law of heredity is that, aside from “Mongolians,” probably no imbecile is born except of parents who, if not mentally defective themselves, both carry mentaldefect in their germ plasm.”

Other statements . . .

Feeblemindedness associated with great physical strength

Breed rapidly

Natural selection keeps feeblemindedness down

Philanthropy and charity have favored multiplication

By 1900, estimated 12,000 with intellectual disabilities in institutions

1915 with intelligence testing, est. 400,000 individuals

Solutions

Lifelong segregation during the reproductive period

Sterilization

“This remedy must in the opinion of this committee be the principal agent used by society in cutting off the supply of defectives” (Eugenics section of the American Breeders Association, 1911)

Sterilization

1907 Indiana has first sterilization law

1909 California and Connecticut

1911 New Jersey and Iowa

1926 23 states have sterilization laws

By 1955, 29,512 sterilizations had been performed - the most from California (503)

Why so few?

Mitigating factors in sterilization

Attitudes of institution superintendents

# of surgeons down during war

Religious groups fought itViolation of individual rights

1927 test case goes before the Supreme Court

Supreme Court Justice Holmes, May 2, 1927

“We have seen more than once that the public welfare may callupon the best citizens for their lives. It would be strange if itcould not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices, often not felt to be such by thoseconcerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetents. It is better for the world, if instead of waiting toexecute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve fortheir imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestlyunfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustainscompulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover the cutting ofFallopian tubes . . . Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”

At the same time, new evidence coming to

light . . .Part 1“As a matter of fact, my own observations show that, in relationto the total number of those who are the offspring of certifiablydefective parent or parents, is extremely small . . . It followsthat if every defective in existence a generation ago had beensterilized, the number of defectives today would not have been appreciably diminished. It also follows that if every defectivenot existing were sterilized, the result a generation hence wouldbe insignificant. In short, in order to produce any markeddecrease in the total number of mental defectives a generationhence, it would be necessary to sterilize or otherwise preventthe propagation of, not merely those who are themselves . . .”

At the same time, new evidence coming to

light . . .Part 2defectives, but all those who are carriers; that is to say everyperson suffering from germ vitiation. Obviously, this is notmerely impracticable, but impossible . . .We are compelled toconclude, therefore, that from the point of view of prevention,sterilization would not do what is claimed for it and its resultswould be relatively slight.”(Tredgold, 1920)

With increased scientific knowledge

Perception changed from the intellectually disabled as

Widespread threat

To sick and useless

At birth, sent to the institution and forgotten

The horror comes to light

President Kennedy - sister

Geraldo Rivera

Burton Blatt

Wyatt v. Stickney, 1972

Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972

Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pensylvania, 1972

Welsch v. Likens, 1974

Halderman et al. V. Penhurst State School, 1978

Wyatt v. Stickney, 1972

-No borderline or mildly retarded persons shall be a resident of the institution.-No person shall be admitted to the institution unless a prior determination shall have been made that residence in the institution is the least restrictive habilitation setting.-Residents shall have a right to the least restrictive conditions necessary to achieve the purpose of habilitation. To this end, the institution shall make every attempt to move residents from:

A) more to less structured living;B) larger to smaller facilities;C) larger to smaller living units;D) group to individual residence;E) segregated from the community to integrated living.

Halderman et al. v. Pennhurst State School

Further, the court found that principles of equal protection prohibit segregation of the retarded in an isolation of clearly separate and not equal facilities such as Pennhurst where habilitation does not measure up to the minimal adequate standards. Moreover the court found that under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, unnecessarily separate services are discriminatory and unlawful. Pennhurst, as an institution for the retarded, is a monumental example of unconstitutionality with respect to the habilitation of the retarded. As such it must be expeditiously replaced with appropriate community-based mental retardation programs and facilities

designed to meet the individual needs of each class member.

Others . . .

No person shall be admitted unless he is “dangerous to himself or others.” No person classified as borderline, mildly or moderately retarded according to the standards of classification at Cambridge shall be admitted unless that person suffers from psychiatric or emotional disorders in addition to his retardation.(Lessard v. Schmidt, 1972) No mentally retarded person shall be admitted to Cambridge State Hospital on civil commitment if services and programs are available in the community.(Welsch v. Likens, 1974)

The laws begin to change

Rehabilitation act of 1973“No otherwise qualified handicapped individual . . . shall solely by reason of his/her handicap be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

The laws begin to change

Public Law 94-142 (1975) Education for all Handicapped Children Act

Free and appropriate public educationIndividualized Education PlanLeast Restrictive EnvironmentNondiscriminatory evaluationProcedural safeguards

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and others

The future?

End discriminationVocation

Health care

Service

Greater inclusion into all aspects of society