Marginalisation in learning disability services: an exploration of the issues.

Abstract

In order to understand the reasons for the rapid growth of eugenics in late nineteenth century Britain and the U.S.A, one must first take account of the influence which the industrial and scientific revolution was exerting upon society (Giddens 1997, Worsley 1992). Pre-revolution societies had been based principally on agriculture, although there were some centres of trade and manufacture. These were typically large states, governed by kings or emperors (Giddens 1997), with a simple form of social stratification, dividin g aristocratic groups from the rest of the populace. Education too, was principally the realm of the aristocracy, with most of the peasantry being able to neither read nor write (Giddens 1997, Whelan 1995). In the context of pre-industrial society, where the emphasis was on work rather than on education, the problem of learning disability was not a visible one. Multiply handi capped children probably did not even survive pregnancy, and if they did, no health system exis ted to support their lives (Worsley 1992). Thus, it is likely that those learning disabled people who did survive had, in present terms, mild to moderate degrees of disability, with littl e physical incapacitation. This supposition is supported by Plater’s (1535 -1614) classification of mental disease, which identifies learning disability, at that time, solely in terms of mentis imbecilitas (mental weakness).