Publisher's Synopsis
Until the Reawakening in the 1950s, persons with special needs were invisible, shoved aside, unable to compete and so consigned to a life of poverty and ridicule. Special needs children were hidden away from society, uneducated by stigmatized parents. Mental illness and retardation were considered either genetic or caused by poverty, drunkenness, prostitution or crime. Parents were encouraged to institutionalize these children or keep them out of sight. Psychologist Dr. Goddard's book, (1912) entitled, The Kallikak Family, postulated that mental retardation is hereditary and the major cause of many social ills. Mentally retarded individuals were dubbed a 'moral menace'. Even professional publications called the mentally retarded "almost human."Considering these attitudes, teacher Bertha Neger would not have been considered remiss if she had overlooked slower students entirely. Special education was a side issue on the 1930's school curriculum. Scholasticism, not manual arts, was revered.Bertha's heart's desire was for marginalized children and adults to be educated and find a place in a world often rejecting them. She became a pioneer in special education and manual arts, as well as a beloved friend to the veteran's hospitals and geriatric centers, working tirelessly with handicapped soldiers and frail elders. In so doing she verified, not only what people were capable of, but who they were, human beings of intrinsic value.This is her story.
