research paper on mental retardation
MENTAL
RETARDATION
Chapter 1
Historical Overview
Introduction
Pre-Independence–Changing Life Styles in India
I
dentification of persons with mental retardation and affording them care and management for their disabilities is not a new concept in India. The concept had been translated into practice over several centuries as a community participative culture. Changes in attitudes towards persons with disabilities also came to about with city life. The administrative authorities began showing interest in providing a formal education system for persons with disabilities, particularly for families which had taken up residences in the cities.
The status of disability in India, particularly in the provision of education and employment for persons with mental retardation, as a matter of need and above all, as a matter of right, has had its recognition only in recent times, almost after the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act
(PWD), 1995.
Changes in the lifestyle of the persons with mental retardation were also noticed with their shifting from ‘community inclusive settings’ in which families rendered services to that of services provided in ‘asylums’, run by governmental or non-governmental agencies (Chennai, then
Madras, Lunatic Asylum, 1841).
Pre-Colonial India
It was at the Madras Lunatic Asylum, renamed the Institute of Mental Health, that persons with mental illness and those with mental retardation were segregated and given appropriate treatment. Historically, over different periods of time and almost till the advent of the colonial rule in
India, including the reigns of Muslim kings, the rulers exemplified as protectors, establishing charity homes to feed, clothe and care for the destitute persons with disabilities. The community with its governance through local elected bodies, the Panchayati system of those times, collected sufficient data on persons with disabilities for
provision
RETARDATION
Chapter 1
Historical Overview
Introduction
Pre-Independence–Changing Life Styles in India
I
dentification of persons with mental retardation and affording them care and management for their disabilities is not a new concept in India. The concept had been translated into practice over several centuries as a community participative culture. Changes in attitudes towards persons with disabilities also came to about with city life. The administrative authorities began showing interest in providing a formal education system for persons with disabilities, particularly for families which had taken up residences in the cities.
The status of disability in India, particularly in the provision of education and employment for persons with mental retardation, as a matter of need and above all, as a matter of right, has had its recognition only in recent times, almost after the enactment of the Persons with Disabilities Act
(PWD), 1995.
Changes in the lifestyle of the persons with mental retardation were also noticed with their shifting from ‘community inclusive settings’ in which families rendered services to that of services provided in ‘asylums’, run by governmental or non-governmental agencies (Chennai, then
Madras, Lunatic Asylum, 1841).
Pre-Colonial India
It was at the Madras Lunatic Asylum, renamed the Institute of Mental Health, that persons with mental illness and those with mental retardation were segregated and given appropriate treatment. Historically, over different periods of time and almost till the advent of the colonial rule in
India, including the reigns of Muslim kings, the rulers exemplified as protectors, establishing charity homes to feed, clothe and care for the destitute persons with disabilities. The community with its governance through local elected bodies, the Panchayati system of those times, collected sufficient data on persons with disabilities for
provision
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