ABSTRACT
Handicapped people have often in the past been treated with disrespect and suspicion. The example of ancient Spartans, who used to dispose of handicapped new-born babies by throwing them from a cliff, is perhaps extreme, but attitudes towards handicapped adults and children have been, for a long period in European history, unfriendly, even hostile. The Christian church was one of the first institutions to take an interest in the welfare of such adults and children, but its approach has often been mistaken and it has retrospectively been accused of a slow reaction to a social need (Tomlinson, 1982), and occasional condemnation of handicapped people as ‘a curse from God’ (Pritchard, 1963). Nevertheless the church has played a crucial role in changing attitudes towards handicapped people and has forced the State to do the same (Tomlinson, 1982). State and public attitude is now different, to the extent that proper care and provision for the weakest members of society is acknowledged as a sign of a civilized culture. European countries, and Britain in particular, have attempted, in the last fifty years, to show their interest towards handicapped citizens by developing very sophisticated systems of care. In the last twenty years, however, these systems have come under severe criticism.
