Most of what I post online are anecdotes — fun, quirky facts intended to catch the reader’s attention and share my enthusiasm for the stories I come across.
Naomi, thank you for this introduction to your work. Searching for long-buried stories is a challenge in any circumstance. Your search must be a double challenge, especially since the "institutional story" seems designed to overwrite the community-care stories. Looking forward to hearing more of your discoveries. (We recently watched The Crown episode that featured the sad institutional story of the intellectually disabled nieces of Elizabeth 2's mother.)
The school she founded and nurtured so carefully did incredible work during her lifetime, but not long after her time started its own march towards institutionalization, headed by superintendents who were firm eugenicists. It morphed rapidly, ultimately becoming the notorious Fernald School, housing thousands, and one of the worst of the region's offenders in terms of neglect and abuse.
Naomi, thank you for this introduction to your work. Searching for long-buried stories is a challenge in any circumstance. Your search must be a double challenge, especially since the "institutional story" seems designed to overwrite the community-care stories. Looking forward to hearing more of your discoveries. (We recently watched The Crown episode that featured the sad institutional story of the intellectually disabled nieces of Elizabeth 2's mother.)
Overwrite, indeed, and sometimes, with so much irony that one can choke on it.
Remember Margaret McDonald? (More about her here for anyone who missed her in earlier conversations -- https://naomischoenfeld.substack.com/p/musings-smallpox-vaccination )
The school she founded and nurtured so carefully did incredible work during her lifetime, but not long after her time started its own march towards institutionalization, headed by superintendents who were firm eugenicists. It morphed rapidly, ultimately becoming the notorious Fernald School, housing thousands, and one of the worst of the region's offenders in terms of neglect and abuse.
More on what the school became, here -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_E._Fernald_Developmental_Center . Fair warning: don't expect any mention at all of its pre-1900s history as a pioneer site in special education. See overwriting, above.