History of Exceptional Children
Nomadic Tribes People with disabilities were considered useless because they could not contribute to food gathering or to the wealth of the tribe. Nomads often left people with disabilities to die whenever the tribe moved to a new location. Many tribal cultures believed that disability implied possession by evil spirits.
The Greeks sought rational explanations for disability, with insufficient medical science. They reached such conclusions as: epilepsy is a disturbance of the mind; people who are deaf cannot learn without verbal communication.
Early Christianity, building on Judaic concepts of charity, brought a gentler approach, focusing on sympathy and pity toward people with disabilities. Sympathy and pity, however, led to condescension and paternalism, resulting in a general loss of autonomy. If not quite sin, Early Christians began to view disability as an impurity that could be purged through worship and forgiveness. Some even believed that enough prayer and ritual could eliminate the disability.
During the Middle Ages, as the attraction to supernaturalism increased, Christians became fearful of people with disabilities. People with disabilities were ridiculed, such as the court jester who was actually someone with a humped back. Ridicule often turned to persecution and "impurity" turned into a vision of disability as a manifestation of evil.
The Renaissance brought new strides in medical science and treatment for people with disabilities. Education was available to people with disabilities for the first time in recorded Western history. An enlightened approach to social norms and dreams for a better future seemed to encourage active participation of people with disabilities in their communities.
Institutionalization began during the Renaissance, as a method of doing 'what is best" for those with disabilities. From the Renaissance through World War II, society believed that people with disabilities might be educated, but in "special" segregated
The Greeks sought rational explanations for disability, with insufficient medical science. They reached such conclusions as: epilepsy is a disturbance of the mind; people who are deaf cannot learn without verbal communication.
Early Christianity, building on Judaic concepts of charity, brought a gentler approach, focusing on sympathy and pity toward people with disabilities. Sympathy and pity, however, led to condescension and paternalism, resulting in a general loss of autonomy. If not quite sin, Early Christians began to view disability as an impurity that could be purged through worship and forgiveness. Some even believed that enough prayer and ritual could eliminate the disability.
During the Middle Ages, as the attraction to supernaturalism increased, Christians became fearful of people with disabilities. People with disabilities were ridiculed, such as the court jester who was actually someone with a humped back. Ridicule often turned to persecution and "impurity" turned into a vision of disability as a manifestation of evil.
The Renaissance brought new strides in medical science and treatment for people with disabilities. Education was available to people with disabilities for the first time in recorded Western history. An enlightened approach to social norms and dreams for a better future seemed to encourage active participation of people with disabilities in their communities.
Institutionalization began during the Renaissance, as a method of doing 'what is best" for those with disabilities. From the Renaissance through World War II, society believed that people with disabilities might be educated, but in "special" segregated
References: Disability social history timeline. (2005). Retrieved from www.disabilityhistory.org/timeline_new.html Torreno, S. (2011). The history of inclusion: Educating students with disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/education/special/articles/66803.aspx Heward, W.L.(2009).Exceptional children: an introduction to special education. Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.