Inventing the feeble mind : a history of intellectual disability in the United States

Pity, disgust, fear, cure, and prevention—all are words that Americans have used to make sense of what today we call intellectual disability. __Inventing the Feeble Mind__ explores the history of this disability in the United States from its several identifications over the past 200 years—idiocy, imbecility, feeblemindedness, mental defect, mental deficiency, mental retardation, and most recently intellectual disability. Using institutional records, private correspondence, personal memories, and rare photographs, James Trent argues that the economic vulnerability of intellectually disabled people (and often their families), more than the claims made for their intellectual and social limitations, has shaped meaning, services, and policies in United States history. Half-wits, dunces, dullards, and idiots: though often teased and tormented, the feebleminded were once a part of the community, cared for and protected by family and community members. But in the decade of the 1840s, a group of American physicians and reformers began to view mental retardation as a social problem requiring public intervention. For the next century and a half, social science and medical professionals constructed meanings of mental retardation, at the same time incarcerating hundreds of thousands of Americans in institutions and "special" schools. James W. Trent uses public documents, private letters, investigative reports, and rare photographs to explore our changing perceptions of "feeble minds. . From local family matter to state and social problem, constructions of mental retardation represent a history of ideas, techniques, and tools. Trent contends that the economic vulnerability of mentally retarded people and their families, more than the claims made for their intellectual or social limitations, has determined their institutional treatment. He finds that the focus on technical and usually psychomedical interpretations of mental retardation has led to a general ignorance of the maldistribution of resources, status, and power so evident in the lives of the retarded. Superintendents, social welfare agents, IQ testers, and sterlizers have utilized these psychological and medical paradigms to insure their own social privilege and professional legitimacy. Rather than simply moving "from care to control," state schools have made care an effective and integral part of control. In analyzing the current policy of deinstitutionalization, Trent concludes it has been more successful in dispersing disabled citizens than in integrating them into American communities. Inventing the Feeble Mind powerfully shatters conventional understandings of mental retardation. It is essential reading for social workers, psychologists, historians, sociologists, educators, and all parents and relatives of mentally retarded people. Pity, Disgust, Fear, Cure, And Prevention--all Are Words That Americans Have Used To Make Sense Of What Today We Call Intellectual Disability. Inventing The Feeble Mind Explores The History Of This Disability From Its Several Identifications Over The Past 200 Years: Idiocy, Imbecility, Feeblemindedness, Mental Defect, Mental Deficiency, Mental Retardation, And Most Recently Intellectual Disability. Using Institutional Records, Private Correspondence, Personal Memories, And Rare Photographs, James Trent Argues That The Economic Vulnerability Of Intellectually Disabled People (and Often Their Families), More Than The Claims Made For Their Intellectual And Social Limitations, Has Shaped Meaning, Services, And Policies In United States History. Idiots In America -- Edward Seguin And The Irony Of Physiological Education -- The Burden Of The Feebleminded -- Living And Working In The Institution, 1890-1920 -- The Menace Of The Feebleminded -- Sterilization, Parole, And Routinization -- Remaking Of Mental Retardation : Of Wars, Angels, Parents, And Politicians -- Intellectual Disability And The Dilemma Of Doubt -- Epilogue On Suffering Fools Gladly. James W. Trent Jr. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Pity, disgust, fear, cure, and prevention - all are words that Americans have used to make sense of what today we call intellectual disability. 'Inventing the Feeble Mind' explores the history of this disability from its several identifications over the past 200 years: idiocy, imbecility, feeblemindedness, mental defect, mental deficiency, mental retardation, and most recently intellectual disability. Using institutional records, private correspondence, personal memories, and rare photographs, James Trent argues that the economic vulnerability of intellectually disabled people (and often their families), more than the claims made for their intellectual and social limitations, has shaped meaning, services, and policies in United States history Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Idiots in America 2. Edward Seguin and the Irony of Physiological Education 3. The Burden of the Feebleminded 4. Living and Working in the Institution, 1890– 1920 5. The Menace of the Feebleminded: At Century’s End: Human Weal or Human Woe? 6. Sterilization, Parole, and Routinization 7. The Remaking of Intellectual Disability: Of War, Angels, Parents, and Politicians 8. Intellectual Disability and the Dilemma of Doubt Epilogue: On Suffering Fools Gladly References Index Inventing the Feeble Mind explores the history of intellectual disability from its several identifications in the United States over the past 200 years: idiocy, imbecility, feeblemindedness, mental deficiency and defectiveness, mental retardation, and most recently intellectual disability.