THE LADD SCHOOL

"In all public asylums as well as in prisons and hospitals ... the only method of securing health, good order, and good manners, is ... execution of the natural law of bodily labour...."

A Treatise on Insanity (1806)

"Here is a subnormal boy who has lacked civilizing experience. If I give him this experience, he will become normal."

Lieberman, L. M. (1982). Itard: The Great Problem Solver. Journal Of Learning Disabilities

"Not one idiot in a thousand has been entirely refractory to treatment ... to conform to social and moral law ... and to working like the third of a man...."

(1889) Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biograph

"The humanity and justice of our rulers will prompt them to take immediate measures for the formation of a school or schools for the instruction and training of idiots."

(1848) Report Made to the Legislature of Massachusetts Upon Idiocy

"Feeble-mindedness is the mother of crime, pauperism and degeneracy. It is certain that the feebleminded and their progeny constitute one of the great social and economic burdens of modern times."

(1919) National Committee for Mental Hygeine Vol.3, p.180

"For it is a matter of fact that the removal or isolation of these helpless subjects in an institution ... returns one or more self-supporting persons, bread-winners, to the general public. "

(1907) Report ... On a State School for Feeble-Minded Children

"Modern society circumvents nature's law of the survival of the fittest, but we mustn't go too far in allowing not only the survival but also the multiplication of the unfit."

Greenberg, S. (1948, Feb 29) Dr. Ladd. The Providence Journal, p.19

"Patient is a little dwarf who works about at the Colony and cares for the low grades .... He has had no serious illness in the past year. However, he has grown old."

(1947, June), Medical Notes for R.D.

"Society must proect itself against nameless children and our School gave the protection."

Jason Carpenter (2014), Exeter Girls, vol.1, p.139

"I considered it necessary for [the patient] to get another whipping, and if ever she needed a whipping, she needed one last night."

Jason Carpenter (Unpublished), Exeter Girls, vol.2

"Do you see where the patients have kicked out the plaster here? It's no wonder. I'd like to kick it myself."

Terry Goldstein & Beryl Segal (Nov, 1973), RI Jewish Historical Notes

"The Ladd School is currently a poor operation. There is virtually no leadership -- in the full meaning of that word."

Peter Perl (1978, Feb 5), The Providence Journal

"Oh my God. It's horrible, absolutely horrible."

(1977, November 16), The Providence Journal, p.A1

"Don't you ever come down here and ask for my resignation, only come down and fire me. I will never resign."

(1978, October 16), The Providence Journal, p.A1

"We're catching up for 50 years of neglect and that just doesn't happen overnight."

(1974, July 25), The Bridgeport Post, p.6

"Mass admissions are harmful both to the individual ... and to the institution and violate human rights."

(1946, June 30), Report to the Dept. of Social Welfare

"[The Exeter School hospital] is not a real hospital.... The school's staff of only two physicians is wholly inadequate for an institution the size of Exeter."

(1957, April 19), The Providence Journal, p.6

Politics and medicine don't mix.

(1977, Oct 5), The Providence Journal, p.A20

"It's a disgrace for people to live here."

(1977, Oct 9) The Providence Journal, p.C1

"I can't say it's illegal incerceration, but in our opinion it's incarceration."

(1977, Oct 23), The Providence Journal, p.A1

"It is with great pride that I announce my decision to close the Dr. Ladd Center."

Fitzpatrick, Colleen (1986, July 31), The Providence Journal Bulletin, p.A3

"The beast is dead."

Miller, G. Wayne (1994, Mar 26) The Providence Journal Bulletin, p.1