IDRAC 2012 Presentation - 2:00 pm PDT, August 3, 2012
Kathryn Irving is a PhD student in the History of Medicine program at Yale University. Before coming to graduate school, she worked as a doctor in Melbourne, Australia; she has a particular interest in working with children with disabilities. Her talk is taken from her dissertation project, which uses a critical disability lens to explore schools for so-called "idiotic" children in the mid-19th-century United States.
The Massachusetts School for Idiotic Children was the first publicly-supported North American institution founded to educate people with what we now refer to as developmental disabilities. It still exists as the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Founded in 1848 during a period of optimism, it was a model of “modern” educational services for people with disabilities. Within a few decades, however, the institution was caught up in the Eugenics movement. Although now we would find both its original name and its methodologies offensive, this school is important in understanding the history of services for people with disabilities.
The Massachusetts School for Idiotic Children was the first publicly-supported North American institution founded to educate people with what we now refer to as developmental disabilities. It still exists as the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Founded in 1848 during a period of optimism, it was a model of “modern” educational services for people with disabilities. Within a few decades, however, the institution was caught up in the Eugenics movement. Although now we would find both its original name and its methodologies offensive, this school is important in understanding the history of services for people with disabilities.
I can but praise Kathryn for how well she did. Providing her presentation from the steps of a public library, she must have had a lot of distraction.
ReplyDeleteIf we would not have heard the sounds around Kathryn, we would hardly have known what distractions she had to cope with.
Kathryn...my compliments!