Before the 1980s, and
even after a lot of people learning disabilities lived in long-stay hospitals,
care homes, etc no matter the disabilities and other problems were. There was not
any choice and control, we were always supported by staff. We did not really
learn how to do things in life because society saw us as a danger. the 80s to The 90s most people with disabilities started living out in the community with a
little support and most long-stay hospitals closed and more started to close in
the early to mid-2000s.
In the past, we were
treated differently to other people but very slowly over the years we have
started to be treated a bit equally, but we still have a long way to go.
In the 70s, 80s and before them, many people with
disabilities and other problems were abused and bullied by other children and
start in the school, which was never really believed at the time from my
experience and many others who I went to school with would say the same.
With not naturally been in school etc for
years, I do not know what’s changed since then and what has not today. This was
because we were seen but not heard and there was not any way of us providing
proof unless someone saw what happened, which was rare if that was the case. I
would like to think schools are more aware now, child counseling, CCT cameras, etc.
In most places and
situations, people with disabilities and other problems had poor treatment and
neglected but we know there have been some changes for the better but again I
guess we still have a long way to go and still not everything is known.
In the past, we have been
labeled mentally handicapped, subnormal, mentally backward, eternal, a menace
to society, a burden to society and more, again we know that changes for the
better have happened but not all known and still a long way to go. https://www.merseycare.nhs.uk/media/1749/disabiliyt-timeline-2013.pdf
In the time period of Charlies Dickens, which was the Victoria era, having
disabilities back then were sadly seen as a shameful thing where people with
disabilities had no choice but to depend on parents and siblings to a point
they became beggars when parents and siblings died. In fact, I it was
exceedingly rare back then that they lived longer than their parents and
siblings.
In the Cricket of the health, there are a few disabled characters, such as
the deaf stranger and Bertha who was blind.
For mainstream people and disabled people there can never be a perfect
life, but it can be better than it is, and it is improved to what it was, it is
still not enough. However,’ to try and improve the future of disabled people we
need to be looking at how disabled people faced life in the past, also incudes
people with other problems too.
It all began in
1946...
The 1940s
- In 1946 Judy Fryd, a mother of a child
with a learning disability, formed 'The National Association of Parents of
Backward Children' - which later became Mencap.
- She wrote to 'Nursery World' magazine inviting other parents to contact her. Many wrote back to Judy expressing their anger and sorrow at the lack of services for their children.
The 1950s
- In 1955 the association changed its name to 'The National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children' and opened its first project, the Orchard Dene short-stay residential home.
- In 1958, the National Society launched a
ground-breaking project called the Brooklands Experiment. This compared
the progress of children with a learning disability who lived in the hospital
with a group of children who were moved to a small family environment and
cared for using educational activities modeled on those in 'ordinary'
nurseries. After two years, the children in the home-like environment showed marked improvements in social, emotional, and verbal skills. The success of the experiment was published around the world.
The life of
Judy Fryd
In 1946 Judy Fryd, a mother
of a child with a learning disability, wrote a letter to Nursery World to
highlight the unfairness of her daughter being sent away from a mainstream
school. Little did she know she would start a movement. This is her story.
The 1960s
- In 1963 Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother opened the National Society's new hostel and
training workshop in Slough, Buckinghamshire - the first training center
of its kind for adults with a learning disability.
- In 1966 Mencap started
the Gateway clubs, offering sports and leisure opportunities for people
with a learning disability.
- In 1969, the society
shortened its name to 'Mencap'.
The 1970s
- In 1975 Mencap's
Pathway employment service began.
- The Mencap Trust The company was set up in 1976 to provide a discretionary trust service for
families.
The 1980s
- Mencap's influence and campaigning work
saw people with a learning disability included in the Further and Higher
Education Act.
- Mencap set up the first homes and community-based accommodation for people with a learning disability in The UK.
- In 1985, Mencap's services for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities were founded. These were among the first in the UK.
- A new national survey of disabled people included people with a learning disability.
- In 1986, Queen Elizabeth the Queen
Mother became the patron of Mencap.
The 1990s
- People with a learning disability were
elected as Mencap national assembly members and became fully involved in
decisions about how Mencap is run.
- In 1995 the Disability Discrimination The act was passed. It aimed to end the discrimination faced by many disabled people and to guarantee their civil rights.
- In 1998 Golden Lane Housing was established.
The 2000s
- In 2001 the government published ‘Valuing People' white paper.
- In 2004 the Countess of Wessex became Mencap's patron.
- In 2004 Mencap
launched its new five-year corporate strategy called ‘Equal chances',
which focused on securing equal chances in life for all people with a learning disability.
- In 2005 the government published a report, ‘Improving the life chances of disabled people', and set out plans to improve the quality of life of disabled people by 2025.
- In 2006 Mencap
celebrated 60 years as the leading UK charity for people with a learning disability.
- In 2008 Mencap
rebranded as part of the plans to make Mencap a more modern and dynamic organization. This included the launch of a new font, Famed, developed with people with a learning disability.
- In 2009 The Department of Health published ‘Valuing People Now', a three-year plan for learning disability services in England.
- In the same year, The UK finally ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It reaffirmed that disabled people have the same human rights as non-disabled people.
- 2009 ended on a high when the International Paralympic Committee voted to re-include athletes with a learning disability in the Paralympic Games.
Before and after the twenty
century disabled people were seen as a
burden an extra body and month to feed that cannot do it for ourselves, which
there’s still that feeling today, even though that may have improved to how it
was. It’s like we are punished for being
born and as if we chose to be how we are in the first place, which with the
right support etc, we should be able to get by in life equal to other people.
Society tends to even today look more so our negatives than our positives,
which is better than it was, but we still have a long way to go.
This makes us feel more negative about ourselves to a point depression
kicks into us and to one of the reasons why there’s such an increase of suicides
not that I’m saying that all that face depression face disabilities and I’m not
saying all of us who face depression will take our own lives. If people say a lot of negative about people lots of people are likely to feel negative about
themselves where they could feel life is not worth living.
However,’ life isn’t
always black and white and never was where in the first world war one 1914 to
1918, there were about two million ex-servicemen who were looked at as
disabled heroes which changed the attitude which society became slightly positive
about disabled people. https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/1914-1945/
Sadly
thousands of soldiers in the first world war and probably in the second became
disabled for life, those who lived but I think there were who were lucky to not
become disabled even though they may have faced been shot in some way etc.
TB, Polio, rickets, etc was rather common in the first world war, which I
think were classed as disabilities, but I am not sure if it was in the second
world war though. http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/diseases/polio
Autism History.
Leo Kenner had described Autism as Autism Syndrome back in 1943, which is
a specific pattern of abnormal behavior he described as infantile Autism.
Kanner did not any number of people who face the condition.
Over twenty years later, Victor Lotter published the Epidemiological study of
children with behavior patterns by Kanner.
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