Flowers for Algernon

by: Daniel Keyes

Harcourt

1966 

Question: Should people with developmental disabilities be cared for in institutions or integrated into the genral community?

    To many people, the answer to this question seems very apparent.  People with developmental disabilities should be treated just like everyone else, and society should attempt to integrate these individuals to the best of our ability.  Anything less would be dehumanizing and degrading.  I do not believe that it is so simple.

    Until the year 1969, people with mental illness were placed by, or removed from their families in infancy, and housed in large institutions.  There, they were given very basic education and provided their basic needs.  These institutions were non-specialized and often dehumanizing, as residents may have been tranquilized or herded like a group of cattle.  Support was provided based on the ease to the provider rather than the needs of the individual.  On the bright side, these facilities did provide a relatively friendly environment for disabled people to socialize in a place where they were not subject to the often torturous environments of the outside world.

    Since the late 1990s, most asylums for mentally disabled people have been completely shut down, in the expectation that the residents would be integrated into the general community.  These people have been provided support services, such as special education and speech therapy.  Workplaces have been made more accessible to those with physical handicaps and employers have been encouraged to employ individuals with special needs, often providing assistance in the form of specialized equipment to accomodate the disabilities or modifying the job description.

    Sadly, there are also drawbacks to integration of the mentally challenged.  Disabled people are often outcasts of society, receiving very little positive social interaction.  They are easy targets for abuse of all kinds, including bullying and ridicule.  Furthermore, developmentally disabled people are often neglected by those who supposed love them and are often abandoned.  In addition, they are often accused of criminal wrongdoing, as they may be driven to act against social norms, or may not be able to distinguish between 'right and wrong', or may not be able to speak in their own defence.  Residential accommodation for people with mental disabilities is becoming increasingly rare.  Today, a heavy emphasis is placed on attempting to 'cure' the individuals so that they are able to lead independant lives.  Although the ideal circumstance is to have people of all 'kinds' living together harmoniously, society often fails to live up to this lofty goal, leaving challenged individuals behind, homeless and unable to properly look after themselves. 

   In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon experiences both situations.  Because his disability is relatively mild, he is still capable of having a job and looking after himself to a certain degree.  Initially, he enjoys the freedom of independance. But he begins to realize that the people he regarded as friends were truly quite the opposite.  After his operation, memories begin to return to him of how he had been pubicly humiliated and, in some cases, tortured by the people he loved most.  Charlie has many nightmares of his mother beating him because of a lie she was told by his sister.  At one point, his mother came very close to killing him before she was stopped by Charlie's weak, yet compassionate father.  It is very sad that he was shunned by his own family as well as his co-workers.   On the other hand, the friends he had at the institution were legitimate.  He shared far more with the people who lived there than with his 'peers' outside the insitution or even his own family.  His teacher was very caring and was truly interested in his well-being, as well as that of the rest of her students.  But there are few people like her.

    In my opinion, there are many drawbacks to both approaches.  Although institutions may be deemed as dehumanizing, I believe that developmentally challenged men and women would be happier there where they are cared for and where they have the opportunity to live with others that share their predicament. It is my opinion that we cannot simply dismiss the feelings of these people.  Therefore, it is unfair to throw them into a world in which they are not treated fairly, simply for the sake of equal rights.  If we are truly to grant equal rights to individuals with developmental issues, then they must be allowed some of the most fundamental rights of all:  the right to feel accepted by those around them and the right to be happy.