Yup. People who were “slow” or “not right” only stopped being institutionalised in the 1980s. Prior to that, kids with all kinds of neurodiversities and intellectual disabilities were largely sent away.
Spy_crab_ on
Or just learned very quickly to mask well.
GalaxyPowderedCat on
Thank you for saying this. I’ve always wondered how many neurodivergent and mental ill kids and adults have been silenced in the past.
Also, if we go back further, they must’ve been lobotomized or abandoned in the asylums where they basically wouldn’t see the sun light ever again.
It’s not that they didn’t exist, it’s that they were removed from the community…
Suitable-Birthday-90 on
for like 2000 years up until about 1900, Europeans thought that when their kids suddenly started acting weird (not talking, becoming overly emotional, losing emotions, etc.) that fairies came in the night an replaced their kids with changelings so the parents would send the kids back out into the forest by themselves to be with the fairies.
Today some governments believe that a magic potion taken by mothers during pregnancy causes it.
dragonfly_1337 on
Where history?
DrHolmes52 on
Some people just locked them up in their own homes. My mother (pre boomer) knew a family that did that. There weren’t even asylums they could send them to (or afford).
shumpitostick on
Do people seriously believe this is true?
No, the high-functioning autists were simply undiagnosed. They just had to struggle without treatment.
The severe ones were being diagnosed for quite a while.
ChemsAndCutthroats on
My boomer co-worker told me that he was bullied pretty hard during those days. He is a smart guy and very nice person but definitely has his eccentricities. Hecwas given the advice that you just have to fight back and the bullying will stop.
He was like “did people ever stop to think that my bullies actually like fighting and are good at it. That one if the guys bullying me carries a switch blade and plays five finger fillet for fun. That even if I manage to beat 1 up there’s 1 of me and more of them”. Then there was the karate kid movie that came out that gave people the idea that all it took was a little bit of training to overcome bullying.
LethalOkra on
I usually stare such people in the eyes and ask slowly: “Are you sure about that?”
9 Comments
Yup. People who were “slow” or “not right” only stopped being institutionalised in the 1980s. Prior to that, kids with all kinds of neurodiversities and intellectual disabilities were largely sent away.
Or just learned very quickly to mask well.
Thank you for saying this. I’ve always wondered how many neurodivergent and mental ill kids and adults have been silenced in the past.
Also, if we go back further, they must’ve been lobotomized or abandoned in the asylums where they basically wouldn’t see the sun light ever again.
It’s not that they didn’t exist, it’s that they were removed from the community…
for like 2000 years up until about 1900, Europeans thought that when their kids suddenly started acting weird (not talking, becoming overly emotional, losing emotions, etc.) that fairies came in the night an replaced their kids with changelings so the parents would send the kids back out into the forest by themselves to be with the fairies.
Today some governments believe that a magic potion taken by mothers during pregnancy causes it.
Where history?
Some people just locked them up in their own homes. My mother (pre boomer) knew a family that did that. There weren’t even asylums they could send them to (or afford).
Do people seriously believe this is true?
No, the high-functioning autists were simply undiagnosed. They just had to struggle without treatment.
The severe ones were being diagnosed for quite a while.
My boomer co-worker told me that he was bullied pretty hard during those days. He is a smart guy and very nice person but definitely has his eccentricities. Hecwas given the advice that you just have to fight back and the bullying will stop.
He was like “did people ever stop to think that my bullies actually like fighting and are good at it. That one if the guys bullying me carries a switch blade and plays five finger fillet for fun. That even if I manage to beat 1 up there’s 1 of me and more of them”. Then there was the karate kid movie that came out that gave people the idea that all it took was a little bit of training to overcome bullying.
I usually stare such people in the eyes and ask slowly: “Are you sure about that?”
It always unsettles them.