Collection: Documents - Catalog Card

EXCERPT: When residential facilities for mentally retarded children are constructed, located, operated, and interpreted as homes for children; when special schools for the mentally retarded are integrated into regular schools or are looked upon as no more than schools for children and youth; and when group homes and hostels for the adult retarded are looked upon mainly as homes for adults; then such direct and normal experiences will result in a normalization of society's attitudes toward the retarded. Isolation and segregation foster ignorance and prejudice, whereas integration and normalization of smaller groups of mentally retarded improve regular human relations and understanding, and generally are a prerequisite for the social integration of the individual....