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"The Burden Of Feeble-Mindedness"

Creator: W.E. Fernald (author)
Date: March 1913
Publication: Journal of Psycho-Asthenics
Source: Available at selected libraries

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In a few years the expense of institutions and farm colonies for the feeble-minded will be counterbalanced by the reduction in the population of almshouses, prisons and other expensive institutions. When the feeble-minded are recognized in childhood and trained properly many of them are capable of being supported at low cost under institution supervision.

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Not that we regard the institution as the panacea for feeble-mindedness. If adequate institution provision were available today, it would not be feasible to secure the detention of large numbers of defectives, and those the most dangerous class, where parents or friends are unable or unwilling to see the necessity for such segregation. We have no laws compelling this action. The Anglo-Saxon respect for the liberty of the individual would make it difficult to enact laws compelling such custody. This difficulty could be approached by the suggested registration of the feeble-minded which would afford a basis for some sort of extra-institutional supervision and control. The observed misconduct and incapacity of many of these people would soon show the need of legal provision for their forcible segregation.

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In a rational policy for controlling feeblemindedness it is essential that we recognize the condition in childhood. Our compulsory school laws bring every child to official notice. Every case of feeblemindedness should be recorded. At the proper time the parents should be informed of the condition of the child, of the necessity for life long supervision and of the probable need of institution treatment. Sooner or later the parents will probably be willing to allow their child to be cared for in the institution. The parents who are not willing should be allowed the custody of their child, with the understanding that he shall be properly cared and provided for during his life, that he shall not be allowed to get into mischief and that he shall be prevented from parenthood. Whenever the parents or friends are unwilling or incapable of performing these duties, the law should provide that the child shall be forcibly placed in an institution, or otherwise legally supervised.

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There are now special public-school classes for the feeble-minded in most of our cities and large towns. These classes insure diagnosis and treatment at an early age, they help to inform the parents as to the dangers of the condition and they admirably serve as clearing houses for permanent segregation before adult life is reached. They should be extended and increased in number.

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The mental defectives in our penal institutions should be recognized and transferred to permanent custody in suitable institutions and farm colonies and not discharged at the expiration of their sentences, to beget other defectives and to re-enter their careers of crime. We now have a law in Massachusetts authorizing the permanent control and custody of this criminal imbecile class which only needs the provision of suitable buildings to become effective. No other state or country has yet made similar legal recognition of these so-called defective delinquents. The logical application of this law would materially modify our present methods of dealing with certain classes of so-called "criminals" in the prisons, jails, reform schools and the courts. The elimination of these defectives from the prisons would increase the opportunities for reforming the normal offenders who are really capable of reform.

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Compulsory surgical sterilization of all defectives is proposed as a radical method for preventing the hereditary transmission of feeblemindedness. At least six states have passed laws authorizing or requiring this operation. In no state, however, has this remedy been applied on a large scale. There are many objections to this plan. The friends of the patient's are not willing to have the operation performed. The normal "carriers" of defect would not be affected. The presence of these sterile people in the community, with unimpaired sexual desire and capacity would be direct encouragement of vice and a prolific source of venereal disease. Sterilization would not be a safe and effective substitute for permanent segregation and control.

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It is probable that education in the broadest sense will be the most effective method in a rational movement for the diminution of feeblemindedness. The public generally should be intelligently informed as to the extent, causation and significance by means of suitable literature, popular lectures and other means. There is how great demand for such information from women's clubs, church societies, charitable organizations, etc. General knowledge of this subject in a community will insure the rational protection and control of the feebleminded persons in that community.

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The principles of heredity, as they are unfolded, and especially of morbid heredity, should be taught in the colleges, the normal schools, and, indeed, in the high schools. The adolescent has a right to be informed on a subject which is of supreme importance to himself, to his family and to his descendants. The great majority of these young people will later marry and become parents. The dangers of a marriage with persons of diseased stock should be presented plainly. The young woman about to marry should be taught that her most important duty to herself and to her race is to choose a man of good heredity as the father of her children. The young man should be taught that the quality of the family stock of his future wife largely determines the health and efficiency and sanity of his children, and of his children's children. Those who have been privileged to address groups of young people on these subjects can but be deeply impressed with the breathless interest and appreciative understanding of their auditors.

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