Father James F. Scherer

Anything which affects the family as deeply as the presence of a retarded child requires an explanation of others. This presents a challenging personal problem in the parents. They live and love their child, so afflicted, in a world which puts emphasis on mental facility. The typical happiness of retarded people - their affection, their love of music, of beauty, of the world in general, their sociability, their faith in mankind, their lesser but still important potential to contribute to the world’s production - is often regarded as unimportant in our Western society.

Understanding mental retardation means more than reading books or listening to speeches about it. It means living with it, and turning one’s eyes to the retarded person himself, and a true understanding of his problems and accepting them.

The responsibility of the community as a whole for our mentally retarded children cannot be stressed too much. For there cannot be a satisfactory program for aiding them without the cooperation of many groups and agencies. Individual physicians and clinics are necessary in the early diagnosis of mental retardation. Social agencies have a heavy responsibility in helping parents find needed assistance and in giving them support and assurance.

The physician and other professional people dealing with the family do not always appreciate the severe crisis through which its members pass during the first weeks of diagnosis and treatment of their child’s affliction. It is a crisis, however, to which the physician need not and should not minister alone. The family should be able to turn to its minister, priest or Rabbi for help in finding the new strength they will need. Clergy and laymen are urged to intensify their efforts to meet both the spiritual and material needs of families faced with the problems of mental retardation. It is important that physicians and pastors meet to share their insights and experiences in helping families where faith has been sorely tried.

One of the pressing needs of parents in crisis is to be able to act, in self defense, and even more in defense of their child. Therefore, constructive practical help of a physician, clergyman, nurse, social worker, teacher, nun, or other counselors and even a friend can serve to sustain and carry both parent and child forward. No parents, in justice or charity, can be expected to carry the responsibilities of a retarded child alone without outside help. Not only is a relief from a feeling of “aloneness” needed, but in addition, tangible help must come from the community. It is the privilege of parents who have been “through the mill” to help others face the reality and meet the challenge of the handicapped child. Schools should provide special classes in vocational training - they are in a position to provide parents with sympathetic understanding and interpretation of their child’s capabilities. Many organizations, including churches, courts, clubs, and other “civic agencies” can and should help by providing information and pertinent facts on the mentally retarded.

After the first round of initial adjustment is completed, social management assumes increasing importance. The “continuum of care” for each retarded person during his life stages requires expert planning. The law already provides that in our society, parents serve as the primary coordinators on behalf of their children. However, education includes learning to utilize available resources. A person who is less than expert can usually negotiate a path to these resources to meet ordinary needs, with the informal advice of neighbors and relatives. But when the ordinary individual has extraordinary needs – self-coordination, self-guidance through the maze of community services may tax his capabilities. This is especially true if the individual’s ability for self-management is impaired.

Coordination of services for the individual retardate begins therefore, with a capable parent or other adults - willing, able, and obligated to concern themselves with the retardate’s continuing and changing needs. Is it fair to expect even the most intelligent and dutiful parent, let alone the retarded adult, to have adequate knowledge of the resources necessary to secure the requisite “continuum of care.” Experience proves that breaks or even barriers in this continued care arise at points where the family must find a new service and establish a new relationship. There should be available in every community “a fixed point of referral and information” which provides a life consultation service for the retarded.

Substantial grounds for future gains lie in the research work done by those who dedicate part or all of their time to investigate causes, prevention, and care of the mentally retarded. Today’s research is team research. It calls for willing cooperation of psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, teachers, clergymen, parents, and other specialists in finding causes and helping to eliminate them, and in working constantly together.

Therefore, it involves all of us -- it means living with mental retardation and turning one’s eyes to the retarded person, and a true understanding of his problems and accepting them.