Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization

This essay explores the experiences of persons with significant intellectual disabilities at the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children (later Brandon Training School) in the period 1915-1960. We discuss the limits of existing histories of intellectual disability in accounting for the disti...

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Main Authors:	Holly Allen, Erin Fuller
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	The Ohio State University Libraries 2016-05-01
Series:	Disability Studies Quarterly
Subjects:	intellectual disability cognitive disability cognitive ableism feebleminded institutional care care work sex intimacy.
Online Access:	http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/5227

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spelling	doaj-8d4f13c377054e34a918909c34ed83e42020-11-24T23:07:37ZengThe Ohio State University LibrariesDisability Studies Quarterly1041-57182159-83712016-05-0136210.18061/dsq.v36i2.52273540Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of InstitutionalizationHolly Allen0Erin Fuller1Middlebury CollegeTufts UniversityThis essay explores the experiences of persons with significant intellectual disabilities at the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children (later Brandon Training School) in the period 1915-1960. We discuss the limits of existing histories of intellectual disability in accounting for the distinct experiences of significantly intellectually disabled people. This essay works to correct the tendency to define the nominal intellectual disability of "morons" and "borderline" cases—both in the past and in disability historiography of the past—against the abject, embodied difference of the "low-grade idiot" or "imbecile." The history we offer has implications for the present-day disability rights movement.http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/5227intellectual disabilitycognitive disabilitycognitive ableismfeeblemindedinstitutional carecare worksexintimacy.
collection	DOAJ
language	English
format	Article
sources	DOAJ
author	Holly Allen Erin Fuller
spellingShingle	Holly Allen Erin Fuller Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization Disability Studies Quarterly intellectual disability cognitive disability cognitive ableism feebleminded institutional care care work sex intimacy.
author_facet	Holly Allen Erin Fuller
author_sort	Holly Allen
title	Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization
title_short	Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization
title_full	Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization
title_fullStr	Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization
title_full_unstemmed	Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization
title_sort	beyond the feeble mind: foregrounding the personhood of inmates with significant intellectual disabilities in the era of institutionalization
publisher	The Ohio State University Libraries
series	Disability Studies Quarterly
issn	1041-5718 2159-8371
publishDate	2016-05-01
description	This essay explores the experiences of persons with significant intellectual disabilities at the Vermont State School for Feebleminded Children (later Brandon Training School) in the period 1915-1960. We discuss the limits of existing histories of intellectual disability in accounting for the distinct experiences of significantly intellectually disabled people. This essay works to correct the tendency to define the nominal intellectual disability of "morons" and "borderline" cases—both in the past and in disability historiography of the past—against the abject, embodied difference of the "low-grade idiot" or "imbecile." The history we offer has implications for the present-day disability rights movement.
topic	intellectual disability cognitive disability cognitive ableism feebleminded institutional care care work sex intimacy.
url	http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/5227
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Beyond the Feeble Mind: Foregrounding the Personhood of Inmates with Significant Intellectual Disabilities in the Era of Institutionalization

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