Margaret Mead and Mental Retardation: Words of Understanding, Concepts of Inclusiveness

Abstract

Abstract:The writers reflect on the work of Margaret Mead, who is recognized as one of the founders of American anthropology, to highlight some of her insights on mental retardation. Mead's study of the island society of Samoa revealed a society where everyone participated in all aspects of the culture and where there was more charity toward weakness than toward misdirected strength. Many years after the study, Mead told participants at a conference sponsored by the American Association on Mental Deficiency that genuine opportunities are required for a culture in which most individuals can fully participate.

Histories of Special Education

“…Margaret Mead's insights, unfamiliar to most special educators and previously overlooked in my reading of her work, added new meaning to my understanding that in order for people with disabilities to be genuinely included in our culture, we must strive to make accessible to more and more people the essential "wholeness" of citizenship (Smith & Johnson, 1997).…”