Parent Blaming, Parent Power, and the Start of Real Research

Abstract

As the 1970s moved forward, many adults like Jimmy Jones remained on locked wards, but far fewer children were being shunted into long-stay institutions. In any case, there had always been some families who resisted the advice to institutionalise. For example, the Edge family, from a small coastal village in England, struggled to keep their son Michael in the family during the 1960s. It was help from friends and relatives, and eventually support services started by the National Autistic Society (NAS), that made this possible (Stevens, 2011).