4.2: The History of Intellectual Disabilities

Before the passage of Rosa’s Law (Office of the Federal Register, 2010), this disability category was referred to as “mental retardation.” Rosa’s Law replaced this term with “intellectual disabilities” in the Rehabilitation Act, the Higher Education Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the IDEA. However, before advocacy organizations were established, beginning in 1951 with The National Association for Retarded Children (now called The ARC) in 1951, people with intellectual disabilities were often institutionalized, segregated from society, and even sterilized (Richards et al., 2015). The ARC led the human rights movement to deinstitutionalize people with intellectual disabilities and advocated for “normalization” or providing a life for people with disabilities in community settings. In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act 94-142 was passed, which required all public schools to provide equal access to an education for all students with disabilities. Today, the Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act secure the rights of individuals with intellectual disabilities to equal opportunity and equal protection under the law.

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Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration. (2010, October 4). Public Law 111-256 – Rosa’s Law. [Government]. U.S. Government Printing Office. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-111publ256