Retarded Children: A Study of the Origin, Development and Current Program of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children, inc., New York City, 1949-1957
Abstract
From the dawn of civilization the intellectually sub-normal have been looked upon with ridicule, disgust or pity. Among the early Greeks the murder of mentally defective children was considered a social duty, and was sanctioned by both Plato and Aristotle. Those who were not seriously incapacitated by their degree of mental deficiency were favored as "children of God" or "Innocents", and were sometimes cared for and sheltered by the common folk,1 However, even as late as the Middle Ages, these "idiots" (the generic term for the feebleminded used until the twentieth century) were thought to be possessed of the devil by some religious leaders, one of whom suggested to the parents of a feebleminded child that they throw him into a river "to rid their house of the presence of a demon."
Subject Area
Clinical psychology|Mental health|Social work
Recommended Citation
O'Donnell, Edward Michael, "Retarded Children: A Study of the Origin, Development and Current Program of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children, inc., New York City, 1949-1957" (1958). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30557772.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30557772
