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How good was care in the 70's?

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kraftiekortie
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12 Mar 2021, 6:42 pm

Just my luck that I started public school in 1972 LOL No IEP for me. I was in private schools from 1966 to 1972.

I went back to a private school for "gifted underachievers" in 1975. The first year it was "junior high." Then, it was "high school." No IEP's there. They had their own thing.

I don't believe they had IEP's before 1976. They passed the first laws for disabled people in 1973. But the first IDEA is from 1976, I believe. In 1990, they passed an IDEA with more teeth; that's the one that included "inclusion" and "least restrictive environment."



TenMinutes
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12 Mar 2021, 7:02 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
My mother didn't "send me away"----but she did, basically, leave me to my own devices, and allowed me to make my mistakes and suffer the consequences of these mistakes.

I was sometimes blamed for being bullied; but that was life in those days. I had to make my own way in the world.


My experience is very similar. My mom's only real contribution was that she stopped cooperating with my drug treatment because she didn't like how it made me act. Beyond that anything I accomplished was my own doing. My brother picked on me and I'd get in trouble if I got irritated.



kraftiekortie
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12 Mar 2021, 7:45 pm

I had an older brother who bothered me, too.

My mother didn't want to get involved in our "sibling rivalry."

I was only on medication once----for about 2 weeks when I was 13. I was given Ritalin. It was probably too late because it's a stimulant for older people, but it calms the younger child.



CockneyRebel
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13 Mar 2021, 12:00 am

I was diagnosed with HFA in early 1980. I had speech therapy twice a week. I was also going to a developmental preschool.


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ASPartOfMe
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13 Mar 2021, 4:57 am

Up until 1975 school districts were not legally required to educate the disabled. In some states, the law prohibited public schools from accepting disabled students.

Intellectually Disabled students were considered "mental cripples" or "mental defectives" and often institutionalized. The institutions were hellholes. Autism was thought to be caused by uncaring parents, "refrigerator mothers". Parents of people diagnosed with Autism were told to institutionalize their children and get rid of all belongings and pictures of their offspring.

If the parents could not afford the institution the kid was thrown out in the street or locked in the attic and chained to the bed.

"Special" Schools were often private and unaffordable for most.


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13 Mar 2021, 4:51 pm

Quote:
If the parents could not afford the institution the kid was thrown out in the street or locked in the attic and chained to the bed.


That still happens. That is why we see so many homeless people with some form of mental illness. No mental institutions, families can't cope, this happens. Can't afford a group home or any care for them, this happens.
People with severe disabilities still get abused because their parents can't take care of them or don't know how to care for them and are overwhelmed from how much care and supervision they need.

And I have heard stories about severely disabled kids being locked in a cage or in their room.

I just feel pity and how messed up our system is, not put all the anger on the parents.

Want to advocate for these kids and vulnerable adults, advocate for them for better care to help families too so they get their needs met and the proper care they need.


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13 Mar 2021, 5:05 pm

Back when I was in junior high, our resource room was in the former science room because our middle school was the former high school before they built the current one. I remember asking where the resource room used to be back then and my teacher said "They didn't have them." I then asked "how did the kids get extra help then?" and my teacher said "they didn't." I then asked what happened to them then and how did they get through school then and she said they struggled or they just didn't go to school.


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kraftiekortie
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13 Mar 2021, 11:21 pm

I was lucky I was in a private school in the 1960s.



Benjamin the Donkey
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14 Mar 2021, 12:34 am

TenMinutes wrote:
I was diagnosed in the late 60's. My mom stopped cooperating with my treatment not long into it, and I "got better" on my own. Apparently. I learned to walk and talk, anyway. Went to a normal school, on to college, have until very recently been able to support myself. As far as my mom was concerned, I did alright.

Thing is, I've been miserable my whole life. But mom didn't tell me I was autistic until I was 35.

I consider this missed opportunity on a whole host of levels. First, I lost thirty years of trying to improve my situation. Probably the most important thirty years of my life. Secondly, care would probably have been covered by insurance when I was a kid, and my parents instead did nothing.

Did I miss out on anything? Was care in the 70's actually useful?

I would like to have been taught coping skills, and been taught what NT signals mean, rather than taking decades to discover them by myself.


We're the same age, and our stories seem pretty similar. I think there are 2 sides to not getting help earlier

Positive--Learning to cope out of necessity.

Negative--Huge gaps in those coping mechanisms. Not understanding myself well enough to make informed choices. Not understanding that other people don't experience sensory stimulation and process information the way I do.

But the level of psychological understanding of autism was awful in the 1970s, so I don't know what would have been better. In today's environment, I'm very glad that my son has an early diagnosis.


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