NIKOLAI NIKOLAEVICH In the city library of the city of Taiga, I accidentally came across a thin book, on the cover of which a monstrous monkey was desperately struggling with a panther that attacked it. The book was published in 1945. This amazed me. During the war years, write about a monkey,

) Malofeev N.N. Western Europe: evolution of the relationship between society and the state

The monograph examines the historical, genetic, sociocultural foundations of the formation, design and development of special education from the point of view of the attitude of society and the state towards people with developmental disabilities in different historical eras in different countries.

For students, teachers, assistants, researchers specializing in the field of correctional pedagogy.

Malofeev Nikolay Nikolaevich – Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education, Director of the State Scientific Institution “Institute of Correctional Pedagogy” Russian Academy education". The author of a new methodological approach to the comparative analysis of special education systems in different countries of the world and the periodization of the process of formation and development of the special education system in Russia.

PrefaceDevelopment of national special education systems in all historical periods connected with the socio-economic structure of the country, value orientations state and society, state policy towards children with developmental disabilities, legislation in the field of education in general, the level of development of defectology science as an integrative field of knowledge at the intersection of medicine, psychology and pedagogy, the global historical and pedagogical process.

Until now, in Russian defectology, the history of only certain areas of special education has been studied. (deaf pedagogy, typhlopedagogy, oligophrenopedagogy, speech therapy) and at the same time the history of the formation was considered scientific views on certain forms of abnormal development of the child and methods of their psychological and pedagogical correction (A. G. Basova, A. N. Graborov, A. I. Dyachkov, Kh. S. Zamsky, V. P. Kashchenko, A. I. Skrebitsky, B. A. Feoktistova, etc.). The development of the domestic special education system as a whole has never been the subject of comprehensive analysis, introducing the national system of special education into the context of the global process.

It is obvious that in recent times (90s of XX century), which is assessed by many as a crisis in the development of the domestic special education system as a whole, research of this kind is becoming extremely relevant. The existing historical and pedagogical research in the field of certain areas of defectology, which essentially ended in the 70s, does not have explanatory power in relation to modern crisis and do not contain prognostic potential.

The history of the formation and development of the domestic system of special educational institutions is extremely short and unique. Its emergence occurs in the pre-revolutionary period, its formation correlates with the period of major social upheavals, and its final formation occurs in Soviet period. Thus, the history of the state system of special education goes back a little more than half a century, and in some areas of special education (for example, teaching children with mental retardation) only 20 – 25 years old. At the same time, the process of development of the system was quite intensive and progressive in nature. On the basis of the cultural-historical theory of L. S. Vygotsky, the theoretical foundations of special psychology and pedagogy in its various areas were fruitfully developed, and a differentiated system of special education was developed. From three types of educational institutions for children with hearing, vision, and intellectual impairments, operating in the 30s, the system has come to eight types of special schools (for the deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, children with intellectual, speech, musculoskeletal disorders, mental retardation) and fifteen types of special education (1991) . A system of preschool education and training for abnormal children was organized. All special schools, with the exception of auxiliary (for mentally retarded children), provided graduates with a qualifying education comparable to a certain level of general education, which made it possible for them to enter secondary specialized educational institutions and universities. The growth in the number of special educational institutions, the differentiated nature of the national system of special education, the qualifications of special education, high level development theoretical foundations training of certain categories of abnormal children seemed to be quite compelling reasons for a positive assessment of the effectiveness of the system, the adequacy and effectiveness of the chosen directions of its development and an optimistic forecast in general. However, both assessments and forecasts were speculative, since special studies of the development of the special education system as a whole were not carried out and could not be carried out in the absence of statistical data on the number of abnormal children in the country, on the percentage of coverage of needy children by the state system of special education, closedness and ideological the marked nature of the problem of identifying, recording, raising and teaching children with severe developmental disabilities, the unavailability of objective data on the state of special education systems abroad for comparative analysis.

In the 90s, under the influence of socio-political changes in the country, there was a sharp change in the value orientations of the state: human rights, children’s rights, and the rights of the disabled began to be rethought; society began to master a new philosophy: recognition of the indivisibility of society into “full-fledged” and “inferior”, recognition of a single community consisting of different people With various problems. The state proclaims an anti-discrimination policy towards people with disabilities. In this context, society and the state’s assessment of the state of the special education system and the prospects for its development changed dramatically; it began to be characterized as a crisis. The social labeling of a child with special needs as “defective” or abnormal has been and is being criticized; coverage of only a portion of those in need by the special education system: “dropout” of children with profound developmental disabilities; lack of specialized psychological and pedagogical assistance to children with mild disabilities; rigidity and lack of variability in the forms of receiving special education; primate educational standard over the development of the child's personality.

At the same time, initiatives are beginning to emerge at the federal and regional levels to introduce into practice non-traditional methods of psychological and pedagogical correction, new forms of organizing special education, replicating modern Western models of teaching children with developmental disabilities.

The crisis did not arise in individual areas of education for certain categories of abnormal children, but embraced the system as a whole, its organizational and methodological foundations. The rather optimistic forecast for the development of the national special education system, which existed until the 90s, and the effectiveness of its functioning were called into question. The crisis seemed so deep that the strategy for resolving it boiled down to an alternative: whether to continue to improve the existing system of special education for abnormal children or, completely rejecting the existing system, move on to searching for its fundamentally new foundations and organizational structure, focusing on Western models.

Both positive assessments in the past and negative assessments of the state of the special education system in the present essentially remain subjective and speculative. For a scientifically based assessment of the state of the system and determining a strategy for overcoming the crisis, a series of studies is needed aimed at studying the special education system as a whole and the relationship of its development with the socio-economic structure of the country, the value orientations of the state and society, and state policy towards children with disabilities development, legislation in the field of education in general, comparative analysis the level of development of domestic and world defectology science as an integrative field of knowledge.

It seemed absolutely necessary to us to turn to the consideration of the historical, genetic and sociocultural foundations of the formation, design and development of the special education system as an institution of the state. We believed that we needed to start not with a study of special education systems, but with a study of the attitude of society and the state towards people with developmental disabilities in different historical eras in different countries, which, in our deep conviction, is reflected in national special education systems as institutions states.

The identification of attitudes towards persons with developmental disabilities as an object of research necessitated going beyond traditional research in the field of history of defectology, as well as a significant expansion of spatio-temporal coordinates. It took comparative study the process of developing attitudes towards people with developmental disabilities in different countries of the world, starting with ancient period to this day. For this type of research, the main problem is the development of a methodology, in this case a methodology adequate to study the process of formation and change in attitudes towards people with developmental disabilities.

When conducting this type of research, it is necessary to systematize and typologize diverse historical material. One of the promising ways of such systematization is a meaningful periodization of the process of formation and change in the attitude of society and the state towards people with developmental disabilities in different countries in different historical eras. The logic of the study was as follows: at the beginning of the study, periodization was used as the most effective method organization of the source historical material, the further developed periodization was supposed to act as a tool for identifying common patterns for different countries in the process of developing attitudes towards abnormal people. At the next stage of the study, it was supposed to play the role of a coordinate system in which critical points in the development of state systems of special education could be considered as sociocultural phenomena.

The chosen methodological approach allows us to move away from the traditional comparison of foreign and domestic special education systems on a chronological basis, to compare systems at the content level, to identify the historical, genetic and sociocultural foundations of modern innovative processes in the field of special education in Russia. This book tells about the results, conclusions and reflections that the author’s chosen methodological approach led to.

IntroductionSpecial education as an independent direction of pedagogical science and practice is quite young, it is less than two hundred years old. It is customary to count down from the moment of its appearance in Europe at the end of the 18th century. the first special classes for children with sensory impairments. Maybe that’s why the authors who described the formation of certain areas of defectology - deaf pedagogy, typhlopedagogy, oligophrenopedagogy - were most interested in the period of time from the 19th century. to the present day. Their views into ancient times, as a rule, skimmed over the same historical facts and names. Researchers mentioned episodes of attempts to teach a deaf or blind child, cited fragments of ancient laws and stated that until the 18th century. There was almost no attention to abnormal children and, accordingly, this period is of little significance for defectology.

We do not share this point of view, because, as M. M. Rubinstein wrote, “what was and what will be are inextricably linked with what is, and looking thoughtfully at modern pedagogical tasks, we must be aware of that urgent questions are born not only of this moment, they are raised and motivated by the distant, often very distant past, and those who are looking for their truthful solution in life must try to look into the past, trying to clearly understand for themselves what conditions generated and nurtured these questions, what their solutions have been tried, etc. Otherwise, he will inevitably fall into the lie of unhistoricality; he will resolve the issue with the false thought that his rational calculations alone fall on the scales, and then in reality it will be discovered that historical forces that he had not taken into account will immediately appear on the scene and will direct the course of events along a completely different track than he expected.”

G. Le Bon formulated this idea more generally, succinctly and categorically: “The fate of the people is controlled to a much greater extent by the dead generations than by the living ones... Centuries after centuries they created ideas and feelings and, consequently, all the motivating reasons for our behavior. Deceased generations convey to us not only physical organization, they also instill in us their thoughts... We bear the burden of their mistakes, we receive a reward for their virtues.”

While not agreeing with Le Bon in everything, we recognize that the historical heritage of sociocultural traditions is the real force that influences the resolution modern problems. Our deep conviction is that the history of special education actually begins not with the first attempts to educate a deaf-mute or blind child, not with the creation of the first concepts of special education, but with the moment of public reflection on people with severe physical and intellectual disabilities. The true beginning of the history of special education is, in our opinion, the moment those in power realized the need to educate abnormal children. We are convinced that this awareness is not in the nature of insight, but is an integral product of national cultural and historical traditions, public self-awareness, moral and ethical attitudes of previous generations, religious dogmas, philosophical ideas, the development of legislative practice and the very concept of “human rights”. That is why for this study the Greco-Roman civilization and the Middle Ages are of real interest.

It is obvious to us that the philosophers and teachers of antiquity, like the geniuses of the Renaissance, could achieve certain successes in teaching deaf, blind and intellectually incompetent children. However, there is no historical evidence of such pedagogical experiments. It can be assumed that such a long inattention to physically and mentally ill people on the part of scientists is due to the moral atmosphere of past centuries.

It seems necessary to describe this climate, to measure the temperature of the attitude of the ordinary majority towards the deviating minority, otherwise it is difficult to understand why humanity, over the several thousand years of its existence, relatively recently came to the idea of ​​the need to care for, educate and educate children with deviations in mental and physical development.

We consciously turned to the Greco-Roman civilization and European Middle Ages, sharing the opinion of the English historian A. J. Toynbee, who believed that “the advantage of Greco-Roman history is that its worldview is universal rather than local,” and that “the field of Greco-Roman history is not cluttered or clouded by an excess of information, allowing we can see the forest for the trees." In accordance with this, the historical fact of the attitude of ancient Sparta towards handicapped children can be considered as the general position of ancient civilization; the judgment of an ancient philosopher or medieval theologian, authoritative for contemporaries, about people with physical or mental illnesses - as a normative setting for ascetics in fields of medicine, pedagogy, jurisprudence.

The centuries-old negative perception by the so-called normal, healthy, ordinary majority of their physically and mentally unhealthy, extraordinary fellow citizens was recorded in folklore, in the phenomena of secular and religious life.

We will try to paint a phenomenological picture that allows the reader to see a historical retrospective of the attitude of Western European society and the state towards the blind, deaf, mentally retarded, and mentally ill. All these people have been perceived as anomalous for thousands of years. “How a person is perceived determines how he will be treated,” writes Wolfensberger, characterizing the situation of the mentally retarded in modern world. Having proposed a classification of public perception of socially insignificant groups of the population, Wolfensberger proved that mental disorders and mental retardation cause the most negative reactions in the majority of the population, including fear, emotional rejection, ridicule, and hostility. The internal negative attitude of “normal people” towards “abnormal” people determines society’s discrimination against the latter. Bogdan and Biklen characterize discrimination against the mentally retarded as “a set of proposals and practices that promote differential and unequal treatment of people because of obvious or perceived physical, mental or behavioral differences.” In other words, society, considering its individual members inferior, cuts them off civil rights, limits or makes it difficult daily life, excludes them from a full cultural life, has a destructive effect on their development and not only does not help these people to rehabilitate, but gradually contributes to making their entry into society more difficult.

So, the object of our analysis is the history of the formation and development of the attitude of “normal people” (“full majority”) to "abnormal people" (“inferior minority”) in the context of the development of European civilization from ancient times to the present day.

The analysis of domestic and foreign literary sources made it possible to identify in chronology historical events“critical points” - turning points in the attitude of Western European countries towards persons with developmental disabilities and build a meaningful periodization of this process [A. G. Basova, 1940, 1984; A. I. Dyachkov, 1957,1961; Kh. S. Zamsky, 1980,1995; Yu. Kanna-bikh, 1924; V. P. Kashchenko, 1912,1929,1992; A. I. Skrebitsky, 1903; V. A. Feoktistova, 1973, 1994; F.G. Alexander, S. Selesnick, 1966; W. Bromberg, 1975; L. Kanner, 1964; 0. Kolstoe, 1972; J. Patton, J. Payne, Beime-Smith, 1990; H. Feldman, 1970; D. Moorcs, 1987; E. Harms, 1976; R. Scheerenberger, 1982, 1983; Slask, 1985; M. Winser, 1993].

The author's periodization covers the time period from DC to. BC. to the present day. Five periods have been identified, the conventional boundaries of which are historical precedents for significant changes in attitudes towards persons with developmental disabilities. So, for the first time, the subject of defectological research is the attitude of society and the state towards persons with developmental disabilities, and it is in this context that the author invites the reader to look at the history of special education in Western Europe.

Chapter 1 From aggression and intolerance to awareness of the need for help (IX – VIII centuries BC – XII centuries) During this period, Western European civilization, as far as literary sources allow us to judge, (Aristotle; Herodotus; Xenophon; Titus Livy; Plutarch; Seneca; Cornelius Tacitus; Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus; Thucydides; V. I. Avdeev, A. G. Bokshchanina, N. N. Pikus, 1972; A. S. Bogomolov, 1985; S. A. Ivanov, 1994; K. Kumanetsky, 1990; A. J. Toynbee, 1995; Y. Kannabikh, 1924; A. I. Skrebitsky, 1903; M. Barr, 1913, W. Bromberg, 1975; L. Kanner, 1964; N. Feldman, 1970; M. Steinberg, 1982; L. de Mayse, 1974; M. Winser, 1993; Peet, 1851; etc.), goes from rejection and aggression towards people with severe developmental disabilities to the first awareness of the authorities (monarch) the need to help them, to organize charity institutions. This is evidenced by the chronology of the most important historical events of this period.

Chronology of the most important events in political, economic and cultural life (IX-VIII centuries BC – 1198)

451 – 450 BC. The first legal mention of people with severe physical and mental disabilities. The law considers them incompetent (Law 12 Tables).

IV century BC. Medicine considers the nature of deafness to be supernatural, and the deaf person is doomed to muteness (Hippocrates).

3rd – 1st centuries BC. The law does not distinguish between the insane and the deaf-mute, classifying them as one category of incompetent, and depriving them of civil rights (Roman law). A philosophical justification is given for the inferiority and uselessness of people with severe physical and mental disabilities to society (Plato, Aristotle, Seneca).

130 –2 00 In medicine, there is an opinion that it is impossible to cure deafness (Galen).

240-310 The civil verdict is rendered: "Deaf to the law is dead" (Emperor Maximian).

III – IV centuries. The blind and crippled begin to receive help in monasteries.

369 The first hospice opens (monastery hospital) with a shelter for the mentally ill (Caesarea, Byzantium).

IV – V centuries. Facts of concern of Christian devotees for the disabled: the mentally retarded have been recorded (Bishop Nicholas, Lycia), blind (St. Limneus, Syria).

V century The deaf and mute are denied the holy sacraments as heretics. The impossibility of teaching the deaf and mute is declared (St. Augustine). In Byzantium, the phenomenon of foolishness is developing; Orthodoxy takes a neutral position towards the possessed.

533 Roman law codified. The Code contains a classification of people with disabilities, recognizes the right of deaf and dumb people to private property, but prohibits them from being testators (Justinian I, Byzantium).

692 The Trulle Council orders the Orthodox to strictly punish holy fools, following the example of punishing those truly possessed.

805 Decree prohibiting the killing of people suspected of demonic possession (Charlemagne).

XI – XIII centuries. As a result crusades Europeans become acquainted with Arabic and ancient medicine. The influx of people of other faiths into Mediterranean cities makes their residents more tolerant of “different-looking” and “dissident” people.

1198 The first shelter for blind adults opens (Bavarian Kurfürst).

Ancient civilization and the fate of a person with developmental disabilities Indicate the true number of people with severe disabilities in mental and physical development in ancient world extremely difficult, but we can assume that there were no less of them, and perhaps significantly more, than in our days. However, despite their relative numbers, these people have been perceived by society as an inferior minority for thousands of years. In all historical eras, a person with a pronounced physical or mental disability was treated with prejudice not only because a disabled person could not participate in social life, but also because he caused a mystical fear in a healthy person.

It is impossible to objectively determine the number of a particular category of people with mental or physical development anomalies, even approximately, because until the 18th century, only the categories of the insane, the blind and the deaf were distinguished (deaf and mute). Not only ordinary people, but also doctors, lawyers, and philosophers classified people with physical defects as one population (deaf, dwarfs, cripples) and those who suffered from severe intellectual disabilities or mental illness.

It is obvious that public attention was focused on defects that clearly distinguished their carrier from the majority of those around him. These are the people we are talking about in historical documents, literary sources, ancient and medieval legislative acts.

The Egyptian Ebers papyrus is considered to be the first documentary evidence of interest in people with disabilities. (1550 BC), which, according to Egyptologists, is based on an even more ancient manuscript from the time of the physician Imhotep (3000 BC). Ebers includes a list of ancient recipes, medical advice, and magical healing spells. The papyrus contains indirect references to mental retardation, discussions of epilepsy, and also contains the first documented mention of deafness. It is noteworthy that the Egyptians were interested not only in the causes of the disease and methods of treating it, but were also concerned about the social well-being of disabled people. In the city of Karmak, priests taught the blind music, singing, massage, and invited them to participate in cult ceremonies. In certain historical periods, blind people made up the bulk of court poets and musicians. Mentally retarded children were under the protection of the god Osiris and his priests, while the deaf were not the object of attention.

In the ancient world human life, especially the life of a child, did not seem valuable in itself. The Greeks and Romans shared the belief that the vitality of a state was derived from the physical strength of its citizens and professed a cult of military skill, physical health and the body. Citizen (Greek polites; Lat. civis) possessed a set of political, property and other rights and obligations in accordance with Greek and Roman laws.

Living conditions determined the concept of public-state education: children were considered the property of the state, not their parents. The number of full citizens in the policies was strictly regulated by law or in fact (for example, in the Roman Empire, no more than 10% of all residents of the Roman colonies and metropolis had a similar status), and civil rights were directly linked to carrying weapons, due to which children with disabilities, in principle, could not claim the status of a citizen and were absolutely powerless.

In ancient Greek pedagogical practice, two alternative basic models are traditionally distinguished - Spartan and Athenian. The first corresponded to the ideals of a totalitarian militarized society, the second was part of the system of political education in the context of Athenian democracy. But despite the obvious differences in the socio-political conditions of life of Athens and Sparta, as well as the discrepancies in pedagogical ideals, both policies, according to literary data, took similar positions in relation to disabled children.

Concerned about the strength of the state, ancient legislation prescribed that physically handicapped children should be identified at the time of birth and separated from healthy ones. At worst, these dispossessed were destroyed; at best, they were left to fend for themselves. The disinterest and inattention of humanity to the problem under consideration is confirmed by the practical absence of historical evidence. It is noteworthy that the question of the fate of abnormal people becomes socially significant only in totalitarian states that proclaim the idea of ​​​​the “usefulness” of citizens. This is evidenced by the ancient Greek polis of Sparta (IX – VIII centuries BC), who elevated concern for the “physical fitness” of citizens into a dogma.

Having the only historical fact, we can nevertheless use it in our study as a serious argument, since it is recorded by Plutarch in Lycurgus and Numa Pompilius. The value of the evidence is confirmed by two circumstances. First, the king of Sparta, Lycurgus (IX – VIII centuries BC)- the legendary legislator of ancient Greece, and it can be assumed that his harsh view of childhood deformity was shared by the entire ancient world. Secondly, Plutarch himself (approx. 45 – approx. 127) an exceptional figure in the history of world culture; his “Biographies” were popular both during the author’s lifetime and in the Middle Ages, when most Greek and Roman treatises were ostracized, and during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Here is what he writes about the Spartans: “The upbringing of a child did not depend on the will of the father - he brought him to the “forest”, the place where the oldest members of the phylum sat, who examined the child. If he turned out to be strong and healthy, he was given to his father to feed... but weak and ugly children were thrown into the abyss near Taygetus. In their eyes, the life of a newborn was as useless to himself as to the state, if he was weak, frail in body at birth, as a result of which women, to test the health of the newborn, washed him not in water, but in wine - they say that epileptics and in general sick children die from strong wine, healthy children become even stronger and stronger from it.” Upon reaching the age of seven, the child was taken away from his parents and received further education in state program. The deaf and mute in Sparta also did not enjoy legal rights and were killed.

Such isolation of “inferior” children, apparently, was carried out not only in Sparta, but also, differing organizationally and technologically, was the norm for Ancient Greece for centuries. In any case, Plato (427 – 347 BC) for eugenic reasons, and Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) economically they approved of the experience of Sparta. “Let this law remain in force,” wrote Aristotle, “that no crippled child should be fed.” Despite the fact that the Romans considered the family, and not the state, the main institution of socialization, the attitude towards physically handicapped children in the empire differed little from the Hellenic. By law, only the head of the family, the father, was a Roman citizen; he had all the rights to control the life and death of all family members. The father, with his absolute power, had the right to reject the child at the moment of birth, kill him, mutilate him, banish him, or sell him. A child under three years of age who could become a burden to society was thrown into the Tiber by his father.

True, such customs were not always strictly observed. Literary sources contain references to sick or disabled children, illegitimate sons, i.e. those who could have been left to fend for themselves, but were not subjected to such a fate. Over time, Greece and Rome introduced restrictions on infanticide, and in some cities on the right of parents to kill newborns; sometimes such an action required the approval of five neighbors; It was often forbidden to kill male infants born first; In Thebes, infanticide was prohibited by law. With the creation of the Empire (c. 30 BC) The nature of legislation is changing and the father's powers are gradually being reduced. Now unwanted babies were left at the base of the Laktaria column, and he was responsible for rescuing the children found here and providing them with nurses for the city.

Philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC – 65 AD) asserted: “We kill freaks and drown children who are born frail and disfigured. We do this not out of anger and annoyance, but guided by the rules of reason: to separate the worthless from the healthy.” Seneca's position is typical of a citizen of a military state, which was the Roman Empire. Her ideal was the warrior; the coming of age of a Roman youth meant his ability to perform military service. Naturally, raising a child was primarily aimed at physical perfection and military training. From the point of view of the Roman state and citizen, a disabled child, even one belonging to the upper class, was inferior and unnecessary.

In P century AD The father's powers were limited to the right to abandon his child to the mercy of fate, but by the 3rd century. such an act was already considered tantamount to murder. According to E. Gibbon, a large number of foundlings were saved by the early Christians, who baptized the foundlings, raised and cared for them. The position of Emperor Constantine is unique, he proposed to provide financial assistance to families who, due to poverty, could abandon their newborns or kill them. Unfortunately, this humane proposal did not find followers over the next fifteen hundred years.

The attitude towards crippled children who survived as a result of favorable circumstances or good parental care, and, according to historical evidence, there were still many of them, was sometimes tolerant. We explain this by the fact that deformed children represented a certain economic value in the eyes of others. Many blind boys in Rome were taught to beg or sold as oarsmen, and blind girls became prostitutes. Mentally retarded people were sold as slaves, used as oarsmen, and sometimes deliberately mutilated in order to arouse more pity and sympathy and increase their value as objects of charity. Often, anomalous people were used for entertainment in Rome; wealthy families kept the mentally retarded as jesters. Thus, Seneca, who was at one time the teacher of Nero, mentions a blind weak-minded (fatua), owned by the Empress. By the 2nd century Keeping people with deformities in the house for entertainment is becoming increasingly popular among the Romans. There was even a special market in the city where you could buy legless, armless or three-eyed people, giants, dwarfs or hermaphrodites.

True, many Romans aroused hostility and antipathy towards people with disabilities. Thus, Emperor Augustus, according to Suetonius Tranquillus, had an aversion to dwarfs and cripples, considering them harbingers of failure. Nevertheless, the name of Emperor Augustus occupies an honorable place in the history of special education, since, unlike Julius Caesar, who did not want to take care of a disabled person, he took responsibility for the deaf Quentus Pedius, who was taught to draw. This mention is the first reliable evidence in the history of civilization of an attempt to teach a deaf person.

In our system of evidence, important evidence of the powerless situation of persons with developmental disabilities in the ancient world can be considered the fate of disabled people who left their mark on the history and culture of mankind. The most careful selection allows us to name only three names - Homer, Didymus the Blind and Aesop. It is significant that in the annals of Hellenic and Roman civilizations hundreds of thousands of disabled people remained unknown and nameless. This fact alone is a fairly strong argument in favor of the hypothesis about the social inequality of children with disabilities, about the unbearable position of people with developmental disabilities in ancient society, about their exclusion from it as “others.” Almost no one was able to escape the circle of the despised minority.

However, let us return to the listed happy exceptions. No reliable evidence has been preserved about the life of the poet of classical antiquity Homer. Descendants were interested in his literary heritage, authorship and, to a lesser extent, biography. It is generally accepted that Homer lived in the 8th century. BC, and it is customary to depict him as a blind old man. It is impossible to say at what age the poet lost his sight. However, remembering that in Egypt, China, and Hellas there were music and poetry schools where the blind were taught performing arts and poetry, we can assume that Homer became blind quite early.

The life story of another writer of ancient times, the fabulist Aesop, is also full of legendary details. The cripple, who fell into slavery and was released, was sent to Delphi, where he died, thrown from a cliff by an angry crowd. Taking the above episodes as real facts, we can state the correctness of our hypothesis about the attitude of ancient society towards people with disabilities:

Aesop managed to overcome all the vicissitudes of fate, rise above the crowd, but in the end, nevertheless, he turned out to be its victim, either by the will of fate, or by the laws of Lycurgus.

Third historical character– Didim the Blind is a less mythological figure. It is known that he lived in the 4th century. in Alexandria and died in 398. Didymus lost his sight when he was five years old, but mastered reading and writing (using three-dimensional wooden letters), was educated, and subsequently became the author of a number of philosophical treatises and a follower of the heretical teachings of Origen, an orthodox theologian condemned by the official church.

Sometimes researchers expand the given list of “great blind people” by including the names of one or two statesmen of antiquity. This is about famous people past, who went down in history under nicknames indicating their physical disabilities, for example, Appius Claudius the Blind (Caecus). However, classifying people with both congenital and adult-onset vision loss as “blind” in this context is incorrect. For it was precisely depending on the time of onset of visual impairment that they either fell into the “inferior minority” (birth defect situation), or remained full members of the “full majority”. Yes, Appius the Blind (IV – III centuries BC)- patrician, consul, dictator of Rome went blind and received his nickname while at the zenith of his career.

As literary sources testify, for many centuries the blind lived mainly on alms, moreover, they formed a kind of caste among mendicant wanderers. Blindness (congenital or acquired) did not prevent the blind person from communicating with others, from perceiving the “word of God,” but it made the person obviously defenseless in the eyes of others. Until the 19th century. the words “blind” and “beggar” were recognized by Europeans as synonyms, and a natural public reaction for a long time alms and charity remained. Being, as a rule, law-abiding, people with profound visual impairments did not provoke an aggressive attitude towards themselves from others and were an exception in this regard. As for the deaf and dumb, since ancient times their legal capacity has been denied by law, and in the Middle Ages their situation even worsened. The Catholic Church interpreted deafness as God's punishment, which predetermined the isolation of a deaf child from the moment of birth from society.

The attitude of Western Europeans towards the mentally retarded is enshrined in the term “idiot” (from Greek idiotos - ignorant; a person who does not take part in public life) , which until the 18th century. used to refer to individuals with any level of intellectual disability, from mild to severe. It can be seen that the definition includes two socially significant characteristics: on the one hand, an “idiot” is a person who does not have knowledge or intelligence, on the other hand, he is excluded from normal life. Thus, the question of the need and expediency of training an “idiot” is inappropriate. (It is no coincidence that the first attempts to raise and educate mentally retarded children will be made in France in the context of a new awareness of human rights, being a response to the ideals of universal equality proclaimed by the Convention).

Ancient and medieval legislation on the rights of people with disabilities Analysis of ancient and even earlier laws shows that for thousands of years the law perceived people with severe physical and mental disabilities as inferior citizens and protected society from them. Formally, the first law prescribing rules in relations with the disabled can be considered the Old Testament: “Do not curse the deaf, and do not place anything before the blind to cause him to stumble, fear your God.” (Leviticus 19:14). At the same time, the same Leviticus says: “No one who has a defect in his body should approach, neither the blind, nor the lame, nor the deformed.” (21:18) . “No man of the seed of Aaron the priest, who has any defect in his body, shall come to offer sacrifices to the Lord; there is a shortage on him, therefore he should not come to bring bread to his God...” (21:21) .

It is difficult to say which of the Biblical commandments was observed more strictly - tolerance towards a disabled person or not admitting him to the sacraments. Historical experience shows that religious prohibitions against people with disabilities were implemented more strictly than recommendations to show mercy towards them.

“Ancient legal customs, largely based on religion, were in the 7th century. BC. replaced by expanded and codified legal rules, which laid the basis for the predominant position of law as a positive Right over custom and natural justice.” . The laws of Greek policies do not mention persons with mental and physical disabilities; the Hellenes sought not legal, but medical solutions to the problems of disability.

The oldest written recording of Roman law, the so-called Laws of 12 Tables (451 – 450 BC)- testifies to the attention of their drafters to issues of family, inheritance and neighborhood law. The compilers of the Tables can be considered the first lawyers to mention the presence in society of people with severe physical and mental disabilities. They were not interested in the nature and causes of inferiority; they were concerned about the judiciary

Special education in Russia
and abroad

Preface

Part I. Western Europe:
evolution of the relationship between society and the state
to persons with developmental disabilities

Introduction

CHAPTER 1 From aggression and intolerance to awareness of the need for help (IX - VIII centuries BC - XII centuries)

1.1. Chronology of the most important events in political, economic and cultural life (IX-VIII centuries BC - 1198).
1.2. Ancient civilization and the fate of a person with developmental disabilities.
1.3. Ancient and medieval legislation on the rights of persons with disabilities.
1.4. The view of ancient medicine and philosophy on the nature of hearing and vision impairment.
1.5. Christianity: A New Look for people with developmental disabilities.
1.6. Summary.

CHAPTER 2 From charity to awareness of the possibility of learning (XII century - 70-80 years of the XVIII century)

2.1. Chronology of the most important events in political, economic and cultural life (1198 - 70-80 of the 18th century).
2.2. From church to secular charity.
2.3. Medieval city: “the full majority” protects its life and rights.
2.4. The first shoots of tolerance towards “different-looking” and “dissident” people.
2.5. Inquisition: people with developmental disabilities are treated as political enemies.
2.6. Reformation: attitude towards disabled people does not change.
2.7. The Renaissance: A New Look at People with Developmental Disabilities.
2.8. The Rubicon has been crossed: first attempts individual training deaf and dumb.
2.9. Summary.

CHAPTER 3 From awareness of opportunity to awareness of the need for training (70s - 80s of the 18th century - beginning of the 20th century)

3.1. Chronology of the most important events in political, economic and cultural life. (70-80s of the 18th century - beginning of the 20th century).
3.2. Three areas of assistance; the emergence of the first special schools.
3.3. German experience: single state, one people, one special education.
3.4. The French experience: pioneers and outsiders at the same time.
3.5. The English experience: the “British way” or caring for the poor and abnormal.
3.6. Summary.

CHAPTER 4 From learning individual categories abnormal children to a differentiated system of special education (early 20th century - 70s)

4.1. Chronology of the most important events in political, economic and cultural life. (beginning of the 20th century - 70s of the 20th century)
4.2. Special education in Europe before and after the First World War.
4.3. Declaration of Human Rights: New perspectives on persons with developmental disabilities.
4.4. Summary.