The Mentally Retarded

The crucial factor involved in habilitating the mentally retarded, or other individuals, for produc­ tive employment is not, as is often erroneously as­ sumed, the decision concerning the vocation that the client may succeed in, but the position that is taken concerning this unique person. In this re­ gard, an analysis of the habilitation process indicates that at each decision-making point a position is taken affecting the client. That decision has traditionally been negative. In fact, when the evidence available is overwhelm­ ingly positive, insofar as a particular individual is concerned, the initial professional reaction is usually one of disbelief, sometimes subconscious or con­ scious anger ("He shouldn't be earning a living; he's trainable!"), and confusion—ultimately ac­ cepting the irrefutable, positive evidence when other attempts at understanding fail, with the useful ace in the hole, "the original diagnosis was erroneous." As a result of this common modus operandi, work in habilitation of the mentally retarded is severely hampered by a proliferation and veneration