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There are hopeful trends in other areas as well. Some states have enacted laws explicitly recognizing the rights of the retarded to proper care and treatment. New York provides tuition grants of $2,100 a year so that children who cannot be placed in public schools can be served at places like the Kennedy Child Study Center, a school run by the Archdiocese of New York, and other private facilities. A federal court in Pennsylvania has ruled that the state cannot refuse to educate a child because he is mentally handicapped, and that decision is expected to encourage favorable decisions in suits now in preparation across the country. Federal Judge Frank Johnson Jr. in Alabama, citing the 14th Amendment, has struck a blow against the inhuman conditions in large institutions. His unusual decision last month laid down specific guidelines for upgrading services for both the mentally ill and the retarded.
Despite the quickening progress in the medical, educational and legal aspects of retardation, it would be illusory to think that any major victory over this age-old affliction has been won. The sophisticated diagnostic and training techniques that seem so promising are available to only a small minority of those who need them. The National Association for Retarded Children estimates that at least half the nation's mentally backward youngsters receive no schooling at all. Among adult victims, a large majority have the capacity for useful work; employers generally find them to be steady and reliable. But the necessary vocational training and special arrangements are often unavailable.
Human Ecology. In its 1971 report, the President's Committee on Mental Retardation appealed for an era of "human ecology" in which the incidence of retardation could be halved by the year 2000. That goal is not impossible, but its achievement will prove arduous. Science has already taken great strides toward the prevention of genetic and chromosomal defects and is likely to make more progress in the next 28 years. Elimination, or at least control, of many of the diseases that cause mental retardation is also within the reach of modern medicine.
But elimination of environmental retardation requires more than science; what is needed is a variety of strong antidotes for the poisons of poverty. Prenatal care, for instance, would have to be universal and sophisticated enough to assure such things as proper nutrition for the expectant mother and the new infant. Better delivery of general health care for the very young would make it easier to spot defects. Just as public and private groups dispense helpful information about cancer and heart disease, similar groups could do a great deal to educate parents about their children's intellectual needs, about the danger signs to watch for, about sources of expert help. Preschool programs such as Head Start would have to be expanded to reach more children at the earliest possible age. Day-care centers are also useful, both for detecting problem cases and stimulating young minds.