ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the range and quality of institutional provisions made in England and Wales for that group of handicapped individuals who are broadly known as mentally deficient. It also examines the extent to which provisions and facilities available met the needs of the patients in relation to their physical and mental handicaps. The chapter provides a brief outline of important features of the background to subnormality: The meaning of subnormality and the ways in which various definitions and classifications have developed in Britain. Research on the implications of residential care, and on the education and training of subnormals, has so far involved quite small numbers. The chapter seeks to discover what facilities–physical, occupational and educational there were for patients, and to learn more about their social environment. In the last fifty years an extensive literature has emerged, not only about incidence and aetiology of mental deficiency, but about range of social arrangements for care of individuals who are handicapped.
