The Girls and Boys of Belchertown: A Social History of the Belchertown State School for the Feeble-Minded
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The Girls and Boys of Belchertown: A Social History of the Belchertown State School for the Feeble-Minded
Used Book in Good Condition
During much of the twentieth century, people labeled "feeble-minded," "mentally deficient," and "mentally retarded" were often confined in large, publicly funded, residential institutions located on the edges of small towns and villages some distance from major population centers. At the peak of their development in the late 1960s, these institutions―frequently called "schools" or "homes"―housed 190,000 men, women, and children in the United States.
What emerges is a candid and complex portrait of the Belchertown State School that neither vilifies those in charge nor excuses the injustices perpetrated on its residents, but makes clear that despite the court-ordered reforms of its final decades, the institution needed to be closed.
