Quiz: Disability 101

The Answers ...

If you didn't get a chance to do the quiz from the last Scoop, take the quiz and then check your answers below.

History has placed people with intellectual disabilities in many different roles including that of Court Jester; however, the answer to question one (Ship of Fools refers to) is “How a village clears itself of all its idiots”. Villages in Europe would gather together all those who “didn’t fit” in the community and put them on a boat and set it adrift down river. No other village wanted this type of ship at its dock so people would come to the dock to jeer and throw rotten vegetables at the people on the boat before shoving it back out into the current. Some believe along the way some bright entrepreneur got the idea that this could be a way to make money – the first “Freak Show” may have evolved from this concept. For those of you who have been in the field long enough – this “Ship of Fools” idea never really went away it just got a newer name – “Greyhound Therapy”.

Questions 2, 3 and 6 all fit together. Question two asked which group of individuals did not have a facility built for them between 1850 and 1860; the answer is D – the Feebleminded. “Feebleminded” was the word used and they were the one group that during the decade of building for blind, deaf, etc. nothing was done. To compound the issue, the other facilities had provisions barring admission of anyone considered “feebleminded”; so the answer to #3, did these facilities have admission policies which prevented those with “feeblemindedness” from admission is True. Question six asked what year was a facility finally constructed for the “feebleminded”. The answer is D, it wasn’t until 1895 that the first Institution for the Feebleminded was built. This was 28 years after the governor of Wisconsin made his initial appeal to the legislature and 35 years after those who were blind, deaf, mentally ill, or delinquent were all receiving services in this state.

I am guessing many of you were tempted to choose those middle ages dates of 1378 or 1598 for question four. Question four had the descriptions of “An idiotic man is chained in the yard/an insane man is kept in a cage”. The answer is D, 1871 in the state of Wisconsin. 1871 was the year the State Board of Charity and Reform went out to survey the living conditions of the “feebleminded” living in county Poor Houses. You may note that this is four years after the governor made his case to the legislature.

The quotes in question four are from the filed reports of conditions found in the Jefferson, Fond du Lac and Racine County Poor Houses. This is the middle of what is referred to as the “Victorian Era” in history. Take a moment and think about the image that brings to your mind (houses, clothing styles, dishes/decorations, etc.) and compare that to the quotes. How much had really changed for the “feebleminded” from the middle ages?

In 1867 the governor made his case to the legislature referencing information about the success achieved by those of “feeblemindedness” on the east coast when given the proper care, attention and education. It took 28 years for that first facility to be built. The answer to question seven (What was the “driving force” behind the state finally taking action) is B “the fear of being over run by hereditary defectives”. This was the beginning of the Eugenics movement, an offshoot of Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest theory. The rationale at the time was if the “feebleminded” were allowed to reproduce society would be “over run” by them. It was also around the turn of the century when the State Board of Charity and Reform became the State Board of Control; an obvious indication of the mind set at that point in time. A life of “custodial care” was mandated. It was unthinkable that any family would attempt to maintain a feebleminded child within the family due to the “irreparable harm” the family would suffer because of the daily association with their “rude and course” behaviors.

Question five also had a variety of quotes including “open trenches for bathroom facilities and 2 attendants for 143 residents” and asked you to identify the year and place. The answer is B, Southern Colony in 1934 in Wisconsin. Now we are 39 years from the first Colony being built. Stop and think: World War I has come and gone, we are four years into the Depression, we have cars, refrigeration, telephones, indoor plumbing in cities, electricity in homes. All of those modern amenities but the “feebleminded” have open trenches and are being abused and killed within the walls which are supposed to provide a “lifetime of care and education”. The question again is how much better off are they from 70 years ago; we are closing in on another 100 years of little to no improvement in their lives. There are over 2000 people in the two state institutions and many more in private ones. Despite part of the original argument for these facilities being the benefit of education for the feebleminded, the budgets at both of the state institutions use less than 5% of their funds towards educational services.

For the few people lucky enough to remain with their families in larger urban areas there were some limited public school opportunities – mostly for those labeled “Educable” but there were also emerging classes for those labeled “Trainable” at this time.

Question eight references Dr. Osborne proposing a “Research Group”. How many of you put B, 1934/Germany for question #8 because it made you think of Dr. Mengela in Nazi Germany? Unfortunately the correct answer is A, 1953/Wisconsin. Dr. Osborne proposed this “concept” during the construction of Central Center. Thankfully his proposal was never accepted or put into practice. While you may be asking yourself how a physician could even think of something like this in 1953, his proposal is again reflective of the thinking of the time. This was the era of the “medical model” those living in the newly renovated and upgraded State Centers were now “patients”. You may want to note that it took over 20 years from the findings in the 1930’s (question #5) to produce actual efforts in improving lives in the Centers.

In 1937 the Board of Control evolved into the Board of Mental Hygiene and Corrections and in 1939 became the Department of Public Welfare (DPW). This new department was different because it is the first time that there is a paid administrator and staff. All of the previous Boards were all public volunteers. DPW encompassed five areas: Public Assistance, Child Welfare, Mental Hygiene, Corrections and Administration and Research. (Do you notice a group missing here?) None of these changes had any impact on improving the lives of people with developmental disabilities.

In 1868 the Wisconsin Teacher’s Association passed a resolution to “re-affirm the pressing need for a school for the education of feebleminded and idiotic children in Wisconsin because it would be in accordance with sound principles of educational policy and Christian philanthropy.” So the answer to question 10 being C (1973/1975) might surprise some of you. In 1973 Wisconsin passed a law stating all children ages 3 to 21 were entitled to public school education – but like most states in the nation it did not enforce that law until the federal government passed Public Law 94-142 in 1975 which mandated the same. I’ll let you do the math from 1868 to 1973.

Last but not least is the answer to question 9 which asked you to put the proper term and IQ levels together. A Moron has an IQ of 50 to 69, and Imbecile is an IQ of 25 to 49 and an Idiot is an IQ of 25 or below. These words were the medical diagnostic terms used as recently as the 1960s but those words have been around for centuries in relation to people with intellectual disabilities. It wasn’t until the creation of IQ tests (none of which were developed for diagnostic use with people with developmental disabilities) that those terms had numbers or the idea of IQ ranges associated with them. Please be sure to use your professional assessment skills the next time you yell at some “Idiot” on the highway – they might really only be a “Moron”!

Some last thoughts: government has never moved quickly on behalf of people with intellectual disabilities, fear more than anything else was the motivating force behind the changes and then not for the improvement of their lives but for the protection of society. The “medical model” in many ways only reinforced the idea of “defective and needing to be fixed or eliminated in the future”. Is it any wonder that those with intellectual disabilities still encounter fear and ignorance in their communities? The majority of information for this quiz and article can be found in “Children of Misfortune, One hundred Years of Public Care for People with Mental Retardation in Wisconsin, 1871 – 1971”. It is available in limited publication from the Wisconsin Council on Developmental Disabilities (WCDD).

To wrap up, I always caution people not to judge too harshly those who went before us. Obviously the abuse, neglect and manslaughter issues are not excusable – but as for the rest – it is a reflection of the scientific knowledge and thinking of the times. I wonder what people will say 125 years from now when they look back on our “programs and efforts”.

I am confident that they will see the dramatic improvements from the first half of the last century – but might we also want them to say, “Well, they were doing the best they could given what they knew at the time.” I think we can all agree we have helped people with intellectual disabilities begin to create their own lives as fully recognized members of society – but there is still quite a journey ahead!

1. b., 2. d., 3. True, 4. d., 5. b., 6. d., 7. b., 8. a., 9. a=3, b=2, c=1, 10. c.

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