ON THE LANGUAGE OF MENTAL RETARDATION Burton Blatt

r
ON THE LANGUAGE
OF MENTAL
RETARDATION
Burton Blatt
Centennial Professor and Dean
School of Education
Syracuse
University
The Situation
Don't make
the mistake.
Grossman
isn't settling
Goddard,
Wallin
Mental
want
to call it.
official
of course,
reinvent
to redefine
to agree, which we've
very old wheels
different
Mental
the matter.
it.
neither
or rename
been wont
moreso;hence
least
will you or I.
it anytime
how we
we get an
and which
is our invention--very
inventions.
However,
in form,
people
real,
not only
that the fresh product
substance
from time to time.
this attempt
did Tredgold,
to do incessantly,
retardation
from the original
Herbert
And it sounds exactly
but also such very new wheels
Retardation--at
Disabilities--even
settle
In days long past,
to define
as are so many other human
So too, Mental
field
is how we wish
do periodically.
is altogether
didn't
And in the days to come, neither
We're allowed
quorum
we actually
the matter.
or Doll.
Retardation
Rick Heber
and purpose.
Sotoo~
to foster analogies
Learning
from my
to yours.
The Terms
Over
the years, many
state, we now call "mental
term~ ,is like looking
was a time when
terms have been used to label
retardation."
fot the origins
our ancestors
this thing,
To look ~or the origins
of language.
did not have language,
this
of those
That is, although
and today we have
there
it,
2
it would be fruitless
labels and metaphors
veloped
naturally
don't well
language
to look for the point
we use to communicate
more than they were
was created
to understand
and others
As most
know, the favorite
readers
to identify
the problem:
handicap,
to identify
"imbecile"
mental
was used to identify
or "TMR."
"prof ol.lnd
ly mentally
the ~ost
seriously
identity
various
retarded"
some nomenclature
demonstrable
clinical
pathology).
Still other schemes
in the community).
who work
mental
field.
or where
retardation
schemes
mentally
and/or
hierarchy,
(or causation)
between
to
there
of disability.
people
(without
with
obvious
of level of inde~
(e.g., in an institution
to separate
for
those
or
in the in-
from those who don't.
is the incomprehensibility
The Wild
the term
as a designation
on the basis
lives
the
the "trainable"
retarded"
and those who are aclinical
the person
and whom
have been employed
differentiate
to the Babel we have
Victor,
now label
as labels
differentiate
used
feeble-mindedness,
In the past,
on the intellectual
(worker boy or girl)
For example,
terms were/are
retarded,
the "idiot"
by etiology
retardation."
the term "moron" was used
the schools
There were even terms used
related
is "mental
or "EMR."
the "severely
to this problem.
subnormality,
the mildly
retarded
to categorize
syndromes
physiognomy,
Certainly
call
groups and subgroups
For example,
But while we
speaking
today
mental
In the past,
Of course,
groupings
de-
and grew, much less how the
when
label
have replaced
a;re numerous
stitution
generic
those
Today
ret?rded.
context
deficiency,
mentally
So the
retardation
intentionally.
to this day, the following
those we now generally
retarded
pendence,
mental
arose.
it, we do know that some terms are used
and slow learner.
call the educable
mentally
concerning
created
in specific
In the past, but here and there
schools
language
enough know how the field got started
interchangeably
mental
at which
created
as our language
of much
Boy of Aveyron,
of our history
was important
of
as a
not
-~-----------------------------..;..----------<
3
because
but that one can learn from this story that all people
(Itard, 1932).
That distinction
count the story of Victor
to miss
demonstrates
handicapped
child,
and dogs master
evidence
that dolphins
communicate
Boy of Aveyron
are incapable
with
lesson
people
have been ignoring
The great
also
to people
significant
verely
Yet,
handicapped
despite
on what
period
the most
Shattuck
typically
to any circus
do, seals learn
is even some
communicate
from the saga of The Wild
rather,
that there
our attention--and
we
should not be that Victor
that he did learn.
That's almost
doctor
an activity
unbelievable
and sensitive
calls, The Forbidden
There
but,
today is that a medical
illuminating
a child change,
each other and monkeys
of his life to so mundane
child.
is
A visit
routines.
surprise
fact of our astonishment
surprising
don't
is educable
but in the very
that distinction
that lions can be tamed, elephants
on earth who need and deserve
them.
re-
in helping
to be learned
is not that capability
which
all, why should we be surprised
even a wild boy?
the most intricate
The most compelling
in the textbooks
succeeded
nativist
and educable,
are noble and educable
and to miss
After
to do things that elephants
tricks,
us.
training
to the most reluctant
can be trained
appear
and his teacher;
and systematic
even a severely
with
doesn't
the main point of Itard's work.
if deliberate
I
I ~
one can learn from his life that wild boys are noble
What might
once would
be
devote
as teaching
a
one se-
in our generation.
recent
Experiment
learned,
(1980),
books
about Victor
the field
of mental
~
retardation
itself continues
this a psychotic
without
child,
resolution,a
to perseverate
an idiot child or a hoax?
question
curriculum.
is left with
Did Locke
little more
contribute
creature."
than being
more
issue.
asked
and answered
And so, the field
"stuck"
to Itard's
Was
We in the field ponder
that Itard, himself,
"This must be a human
~retardation
on the "educability"
of mental
on unraveling
thinking
to his
Itard's
than Condillac?
I
J
4
Or we speculate
keeper,
tion.
Madame
Despite
on what eventually
Guerin,
happened
took care of--after
the illuminating
recent years, we in mental
wild boy was or wasn't
histories
retardation
an incurable
is "a human creature."
ing about
were
the meaning
Itard,
still worry
about
of the field in
whether
child,
And on that issue, we spend
house-
fled the situa-
Itard's
But the lesson we must
is that every
of such an assertion,
Itard's
in despair,
from those outside
idiot.
learn if we are to help such people
to the child whom
eventually
even a wild child,
little
or no time worry-
much less the consequences
if we
to deny it.
Confused
Babel were
the analogy
language
begets
used to build
confused
the mental
thinking.
retardation
In our day, the bricks
industry.
of the Tower of Babel to the mental
of
For some people,
retardation
monolith
is not
inconceivable.
The Understandings
Mental
retardation,
other disabilities
tions.
A person
designated
learning
are inventions--important,
is mentally
retarded
him or her as mentally
ing disabled,
disabilities,
mental
useful,
because
retarded.
you name it, in the same way one is labeled
or a Rotarian--by
to the group.
What does mental
retardation
Ditto
learning
curable
happen
in consort with government
disabilities.
and irremediable
almo;st anytime--at
government
grants
being
and occurred
pulled
and consumers--mean
at birth
least through
or early
adolescence,
aimed 'at not only preve~ting
retarded,
a college
mean--actually?
Once upon a time, mental
but inven~
or some official
One is labeled
or a Republican,
those and
effective,
an agency
or a Democrat,
fessionals
illness,
body
learnstudent,
or admitted
What we--proit to mean.
retardation
age.
was in-
Today,
it can
and there are large
but reversing
the condition.
5
Once upon a time, we said that mental
the population.
Later we revised
of the population
the definition
labeled.
history
either
again,
so today no more
our language,
of the learning
included
three percent
that to permit as much as sixteen
to be labeled'~etarded."
And if you think mental
we have changed
retardation
But on reconsideration,
than two percent
retardation
and thus modified
disabilities
movement.
laugh or cry or, most probably,
insofar
our population,
After
percent
we changed
of the people
is mercurial
the shock,
say, "What the hell!"
of
are so
as the way
examine
the
one will
References
Itard, Jean Marc Gaspard
The Wild Boy of Aveyron, translated by George & Muriel
introduction by George Humphrey
New York:
The Century Company, 1932.
(paperback edition, Appleton-Century-Crofts,
1962)
Shattuck,
Humphrey,
R.
The Forbidden Experiment:
New York~
Giroux, 1980.
The Story of the Wild Boy of Aveyron,
with an