Group Five: Understanding Mental Illness

Essential Questions
You may include more information in your presentation, but please be sure to cover these points as a minimum.

• What is mental retardation? What percentage of people have mental retardation? What are adaptive skills?
  
• What causes mental retardation? How is it determined or measured?
  
• How were mentally disabled people treated differently in the 1930s versus today?
  
• What is the Americans with Disabilities Act? As a result of this legislation, what do employers need to provide for anyone who is a retarded or disabled employee? What does the public transportation system need to do to help retarded or disabled people today? What do restaurants, hotels, and retail stores need to provide to assist retarded or disabled people?

Recommended Resources
You may need to go beyond what is listed here, but I’ve included a few ideas to get you started. You will need to cite all sources used at the end of your presentation, so keep track carefully.

• The Arc (formerly the National Association for Retarded Children):
  http://www.thearc.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?&pid=1647&srcid=1646
  
• The EEOC on the Americans with Disabilities Act:
  http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html
  
• The homepage for the Americans with Disabilities Act:
  http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm
  
• The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities:
  http://www.aaidd.org/Policies/faq_mental_retardation.shtml
  
• A history of treatment (skim to 1930s) from AHRC NYC:
  http://www.ahrcnyc.org/pdf/chapter1_history.PDF
  
• American Association of Mental Retardation Fact Sheets
  http://www.aamr.org/Policies/faq_toc.shtml
  
• More facts about the Americans with Disabilities Act:
  http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/fs-ada.html
  
• Online and print encyclopedias, such as MSN’s Encarta (check out this article on eugenics for treatment in the early 20th century):
  http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761560245/Eugenics.html
  
• Media Center Databases:
  http://www.arlington.k12.ma.us/ahs/mediacenter/databases/databases.htm