Description
Intellectually Impaired People: The Ongoing Battle addresses challenges against the background of history, changing societal environments, and current intellectual approaches and attitudes toward persons with disabilities. The book discusses national and international conventions, societal attitudes, sheltered workshops, the right of intellectually impaired persons for self-responsibility and its limitations, and the place of mentally impaired persons in the public image. Additionally, the book attempts to capture the forces that drive the changes of our conceptual frameworks.The US Tuskegee study which withheld antibiotics from black men with syphilis was not ended by scientific criticism but by a courageous man, press reports, and a changed social perception. The non-hiding of handicapped children is not the result of government orders, there are many non-resolvable dilemmas and tension between supporting, understanding, and patronizing a complex situation with many potential future avenues.- Recognizes how contradictory feelings and attitudes toward impaired persons have a complex historical background- Sheds light on society and our institutions that deal with disabled people and the limitations of an isolated medical approach- Covers national and international conventions of mentally impaired persons
Table of Contents
1. Introduction2. The almost non-existing place of handicapped persons in history3. Today's changing composition of mankind4. What physical and/or mental impairment have in common, and what differentiates them5. Causes of impairment6. Archaic and modern attitudes and thought buildings: Religions, charity, and philanthropy7. Eugenics and the enforcement of social norms in industrialized countries and how many allegedly humane institutions gambled away their moral credit8. Intellectual revolutions in the 20th century9. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 199010. UN declarations, conventions, and international law11. The Olympic Games, Paralympics, and more as a case study12. Medical literature on the treatment of impaired limbs, organs and persons13. Guides for parents14. Guides for professionals15. Jobs for mentally impaired persons in the past16. Sheltered workshops17. Handicapped persons in TV and movies18. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)19. Competition, social care, and hypocrisy20. The needy live here, not only far away21. Sexuality22. Parents' bad conscience23. The challenge of mentally impaired persons will never go away24. Conclusion and outlook: mankind has always mastered new challenges
