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Christmas In Purgatory Thesis

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Christmas in Purgatory
A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation

EDUC 5333 – Legal Aspects of Special Education
Ms. Sharon Cunningham, Instructor

R. Stacey Pollard
09/02/2016

Christmas in Purgatory; A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation was written by Burton Blatt and Fred Kaplan in August 1966. The copy reviewed for this assignment was printed by Human Policy Press, Syracuse, New York in 1974. This photographic essay brings to light the deplorable living conditions of men, women, and children who were residing in institutions for the mentally retarded. It was not published with the intent to criticize but with hope and expectations of much-needed changes. Renovations identified by Blatt and Kaplan care were …show more content…

Blatt and Kaplan shared the story of one attendant with one assistant who tried, to the best of their ability, to care for 100 severely mentally retarded ambulatory adults. Some care options consisted of the use of restraints, lack of clothing, and solitary confinement due to lack of manpower not necessarily because of patient behavior. Even though the difference in the quality of services is from one end of the spectrum to the other, my frustration with trying to provide a quality education for approximately 100 special education students with duties being divided between two special education teacher, who spend an extreme amount of time on paperwork and very little on direct instruction, three para’s, and one speech-language pathologist who only works two days per week is an injustice to my …show more content…

The pictures, even the ones that were hard to see, showed so much suffering. As I explored the pictures and words written, my mind kept thinking about how their lives were spent suffering in silence until Blatt and Kaplan created Christmas in Purgatory; A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation. My favorite quote used was “A teacher who makes little or no allowance for individual differences in the classroom is an individual who makes little or no difference in the lives of his” by William Arthur Ward. I feel this quote was in direct reference to the attendant at The Seaside Institute who changed his life from one of alcohol and no purpose to a teacher that inspired hope and success in the residents he cared for. He did not allow passive behavior or limitations of his patients keep him from finding a way to teach. In conclusion, I feel that my reaction to the photographic essay is one of determination to always strive to improve the quality of education for students with disabilities. Identifying with the frustration of staff and administration from these institutions is no excuse to conform to the philosophy of the time. There is always room for changes, reform, and improvements. It seems that striving to become a teacher like the attendant who changed his life teaching his residents is an honorable

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