The intellectually Handicapped Children's Society: the first twenty years: from protest group to Welfare organisation

Abstract

This thesis is about the formation and first 20 years of the organisation that is today commonly called the IHC. This organisation was founded in 1949 as the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Parents' Association (IHCPA). The name was changed to the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Society (IHCS) in 1962, and changed again in 1975 to the New Zealand Society for the Intellectually Handicapped. Since its foundation the IHC's aim has been to promote the welfare of people with intellectual handicaps. This thesis examines how the Society pursued this aim from 1949 to 1969. The IHC began as a small group of parents who were protesting at the way their children were treated by the public authorities, and by the health and education professions. It evolved into a relatively large organisation of parents, volunteers, and paid staff who (with public donations and government subsidies) provided a range of welfare services for the intellectually handicapped and their families. The IHC was not alone in its efforts to help intellectually handicapped people. It was part of a world wide movement to promote the welfare and rights of people with intellectual handicaps. After the second world war groups of parents and friends of intellectually handicapped people were formed in many countries. Although they began in isolation these groups shared a common dissatisfaction with the way the intellectually handicapped were treated. In particular they reacted against the conditions in the large custodial institutions provided by their governments to house such people. These parents' groups wanted institutional reforms, and the provision of support services that would enable most of the intellectually handicapped to live at or near home. When the governments refused or were slow to provide "community based" support services the parents' groups often undertook to set up such services themselves. The IHC in New Zealand was one of the groups that became ever more involved in the provision of services. Much of the material on which this thesis is based can be found in the Anyon Papers. This is a very interesting manuscript collection kept by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research in Wellington. The Papers consist of letters, annual reports, circulars, magazines, and newspaper clippings relating to the IHC. These were collected by the first secretary of the IHCPA, Mrs Margaret Anyon. The other main source of information is the library in the national office of the New Zealand Society for the Intellectually Handicapped in Wellington. This library has a collection of books relating to intellectual handicaps, as well as copies of the IHC'S annual reports and magazines.