Sunday, November 17, 2019
Treatment of People with Developmental Disabilities Essay Example for Free
Treatment of People with Developmental Disabilities Essay Throughout history people with developmental disabilities were treated as defective or somewhat less than human. They were placed in institutions and often forgotten, drugged or tortured simply because they were misunderstood. Jean-Marc Itard began working with people in France in the early eighteen hundreds in a first attempt to train developmentally disabled people. He later moved to the United States and continued his studies and practice. The first asylum to treat people with disabilities was opened in 1851. (History 6) The purpose of the asylum was to protect the people from the harshness of society and to educate the people with disabilities.            The beginning of the 1900’s consisted of a change to an attempt to protect society from the disabled people by putting them all in institutions. In the first half of the nineteen hundreds the number of institutions and the number of people in them grew significantly. The general public treated disabled people as deviants and people that should not be allowed to live among other people (Minnesota, part D). In 1924 a law was passed that allowed sterilization of people deemed as â€Å"feebleminded†. This population included epileptics and alcoholics (Longmore 1). By passing this law, the nation demonstrated it was not yet ready to fully accept people with developmental disabilities. Between 1925 and 1950, people began to realize again that the developmentally disabled were harmless to society and were best if they were trained. This did not keep people from placing their disabled children in institutions or keep doctors from recommending that parents place their children in institutions. Once a child was diagnosed with a disability, the child was often placed in an already over crowded institution where he was essentially forgotten.            Towards the end of the 1950’s and early 1960’s the views towards disabled people changed again. When John Kennedy became president he and his sister chose to spend time helping people with disabilities live more productive lives (National 1). During this time the trend began to change to respecting them and keeping people at home if possible. From that time, research has gradually increased to study the causes of developmental disabilities to greatly reduce the number of people born with them and when possible reduce the severity of the effects. Because of this the number of yearly cases of people born with severe disabilities has been greatly reduced.            From the later half of the nineteen hundreds to the present, the trend has moved towards encouraging people to keep their disabled children at home when possible and to educate the children along with average children. This method helps average children be more respectful of children with disabilities and helps the children with disabilities develop skills more quickly.            For many years people with disabilities were treated as less than human and often became the subjects of traveling shows carnival attractions. When not in shows, they were kept in institutions, where people could pretend they did not exist. Fortunately in the last fifty years, the public no longer fears disability and are not only more accepting, but willing to assist them. Society has come a long way towards accepting those who are different, but progress continues and needs to continue to be made. Works Cited: â€Å"A Short History of treatment for People with Mental Retardation†. 11 February 2008 http://www.ahrcnyc.org/pdf/chapter1_history.PDF Longmore, Paul. â€Å"Disability History Timeline†2002. Rehabilitation Research and            Training Center on Independent Living Management. 11 February 2008            http://isc.temple.edu/neighbor/ds/disabilityrightstimeline.htm National Institute of Child Health and Development. 8 September 2007.            11 February 2008 Establishment and history â€Å"Parallels in Time†2007. Minnesota’s Governor’s Council. 11 February 2008 Parallels In Time: A History of Developmental Disabilities
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