"History of Developmental Disabilities" Presentation

Hi! Welcome to my MOT/S blog. I am excited to finally share with you my first blog post concerning a presentation that was given to my "Foundations of Occupation-Centered Practice" class this past Tuesday, January 28th. Dr. Bruce Keisling, the Executive Director of the Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities, presented a slideshow to my class titled "A Brief History of Developmental Disabilities in the United States." I was intrigued to learn that the Boling Center, a part of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, was one of the nineteen federally funded facilities for people with disabilities following the John F. Kennedy presidency. 

At the beginning of Dr. Keisling's presentation, I got that achey feeling that you get when you remember tragic things of the past -- things such as 9/11/2001, the Holocaust. I got that feeling because my class was faced with the appalling history of people with developmental disabilities in the United States. We saw photos of public posters from the early 1900s calling for "eugenics" to try and "breed out bad genes." We learned how state institutionalizations came about for disabled people, how overcrowded these institutions got, and how badly the patients were treated at them. I couldn't believe that some people admitted to these institutions only had bad hearing in one ear, or they didn't walk perfectly. It was so hard to hear that Americans used to refer to people with disabilities with words such as "idiot" and "moron." In addition, it was devastating to find out about John F. Kennedy's sister Rosemary, and how embarrassed the Kennedy family was of her condition, that they ordered a lobotomy that ended up further disabling her. Realizing that discrimination against people with disabilities used to be the societal NORM was incredibly eye-opening and devastating to me. 

However, after learning all of the rough history, Dr. Keisling's presentation provided us with stories of reform. We learned about a man named Ed Roberts who conquered his disability and boldly spoke out about discrimination. We learned about the Disability Rights Movement that began in the 1970s. We learned about Medicare/Medicaid, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Education for All Children Act of 1975, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. After Keisling's presentation on Tuesday, I left feeling hopeful and proud. I am proud of the compassionate Americans that have gone before us to advocate for reform for people with disabilities. I am proud that today people with disabilities are able to live a life of quality more than they ever have in the past. And I am hopeful that changes will continue to be made, and that Americans are further educated on the types of disabilities that exist and how to treat the people that have them.