Abandoned to their fate

social policy and practice toward severely retarded people in America, 1820-1920

by Philip M. Ferguson

1994 212 pages eng

Covering a 100-year period in the history of the social policy and practice toward people with severe mental retardation, Abandoned to Their Fate looks at the lives of people once labeled "idiots," "hopeless," or "unteachable." Ferguson examines the problem of what he terms "chronicity," the definit…