Rehumanization—A mission for the developmental center

Abstract

Profound and severely retarded people are in grave danger of losing their status as human beings. Since these people usually cannot either speak or walk or care for themselves, meeting their fundamental needs as humans should be the primary agenda for the Developmental Center. These needs include nurturance, love, novelty, sensuality, joy, peace, and all the other factors that define a quality life. This represents a radical departure from the usual dreary litany of preschool training activities which has little or no relevance to this population. The article suggests that forcing these people to participate in programs whose primary agenda is learning nursery school skills further dehumanizes them.