This film is part of Free
New Ways at Northgate
From the socially dead to community care – a case study in re-humanising disabled people
Overview
From the socially dead to community care, this 1969 film is a case study in re-humanising disabled people. It shows the transformation of a hospital for people with learning difficulties and is a case study in re-humanising disabled people who are profoundly institutionalised. An enlightened services manager decided to gradually close down the Northumberland hospital, and introduce the residents back into their community with involvement from the local school.
Until the 1970’s, people with learning difficulties were written off as “mentally subnormal” and warehoused in closed institutions. A disabled activist and academic, Vic Finkelstein, chillingly dubbed them “the socially dead”. This policy of containment shifted when the idea of “normalisation” began to gain currency with enlightened social care professionals. The superintendent of this mental handicap hospital (as they were known) is ahead of his time – he adopted a radical policy of hospital closure and community reintegration and engagement. Many hundreds of mental handicap hospitals closed across the UK during the next two decades as community care was eventually rolled out.
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