New Zealand attitudes and practices towards mental retardation and its aetiology

Abstract

The problem of mental retardation has always been with us but several factors have recently served to magnify it. One is the increase in the complexity of our society; another is the increasing demand for educational achievement and technical competence. This has changed the significance of mental retardation so that individuals who would previously not have been considered retarded are thus classified as a result of the greater competition with children the same age. An additional factor has been introduced by advances in medical knowledge. The increase in ability to deal with other forms of illness has highlighted our relative inadequacy in treating disorders of the nervous system and has also saved many children who earlier would have died but now survive with defective mechanisms. Related to this there has been a change in the attitudes towards aetiology. Until recently there was little doubt about mental retardation. It was thought to be due to a cerebral abnormality that produced unmodifiable intellectual subnormality and behavioural incompetence. The condition was either hereditary (endogenous) or caused by the environment (exogenous). During the past decade these factors have led to an increasing public awareness of the problem of mental retardation and with this awareness has come increased pressure for improved facilities and for research programmes directed towards its prevention and treatment. One can see this development in New Zealand with the formation of the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Society in 1950 and its subsequent pressure on the government for better services for the training and care of the retarded.