30 years ago infants born with obvious signs of a developmental
disability (such as Down Syndrome) were often referred
directly to an institution where they could be raised.
Many people with mental retardation were institutionalized
with variable involvement with their families and communities.
More recently, individuals with disabilities are increasingly
recognized as an important part of the fabric of society,
and integration has become the starting point for issues
like education and health care.
A development in the rearing and education of mentally
retarded individuals was the "normalization principle"
that recognized that meaning was created in the lives
of such individuals through the same kind of daily, yearly,
and lifetime milestones as all people. This referred to
having a predictable daily schedule with separation between
work and leisure, an annual schedule that provided for
vacations, and marking of developmental milestones that
distinguished between childhood and adulthood, for example,
and distinguished between the "working years"
and the older years of retirement.
For the last 15 years or so in the US there has been
a shift in caring for individuals with disabilities to
more integration into communities. Thus children with
developmental disabilities are being raised at home in
their families and educated in community schools. School
programs integrate individuals with disabilities into
regular classes as much as possible. Secondary education
focuses on vocational preparation, and individuals with
disabilities are assisted in getting and holding jobs.
Individuals with disabilities are more often living in
communities, in group homes or semi-independent, and many
institutions for individuals with developmental disabilities
have been closed.
Because of the broader inclusion of persons with developmental
disabilities in our communities, mental health professionals,
medical professionals, and members of the community, including
family members, employers, educators, and clergy seek
a broader understanding of the needs and responses of
individuals with developmental disabilities.
Definition: Developmental Disabilities
refer to disabilities that affect a range of social and
cognitive areas including communication, learning, judgment,
and interpreting and responding to social cues. Generally
developmental disabilities are present at birth or considered
to be intrinsic to the organism (i.e. not acquired through
illness or accident, except when the incident occurs early
enough to significantly interfere with acquisition in
the social and cognitive areas as defined above).
They are distinguished from the mental illnesses in a
variety of ways. First they are generally stable or progressive,
but not generally relapsing and remitting. Second they
primarily affect cognition and perception, and are not
necessarily associated with distortions in thinking or
with affective disturbances. It is important to remember
that people with developmental disabilities may also have
treatable mental illnesses
