Public Policy: Legal & Soc Mandate

Catalog description

This course will take a historical perspective of societal attitudes toward the mentally retarded and disabled person. Topics to be covered include the early treatment of the mentally retarded, early attempts to train and classify the developmentally disabled individual, early attempts at legislation, and the major theorists throughout history. These topics will be explored chronologically, from the earliest attempts to care for the mentally retarded. The course will also include a review of the legal rights protecting the developmentally disabled individual, as well as the growing political clout of the parent and self-advocacy movements.