Though the Ladd School is best known for being an institution for people with developmental disabilities (e.g. mental retardation, etc.), it was created in 1907 as a "feeble-minded school." But "feeble-minded," being a very old word that we don't hear much anymore, is a difficult concept to grasp, and so contributes to the common misconception that the Ladd School was an insane asylum, which it was not.
Without delving into too many of the finer points of the Ladd School's specific purposes and functions, an observation of its core population at the peak of its role as a feeble-minded school helps to suss out who was considered feeble-minded and why.
Broadly - and for the purposes of this study - the population up until about 1950 can be divided into three simplified, albeit complex, categories: The socially unfit, the disabled, and the "permanent custodial" cases.
The socially unfit were characterized by a wide range of traits and behaviors, but could be identified mostly by their nonconformity with white Catholic morals and practices, especially in regard to sexuality. Masturbation, sex out of wedlock, homosexuality, cohabitation, and "illegitimate" pregnancy were firm indicators of feeble-mindedness, or "moral defect," particularly when in reference to women and minority races.
Likewise, drug or alcohol use (especially during the prohibition era), vagrancy, arson, violence, cruelty to animals, larceny, even truancy from school - any infraction of the law no matter how small or severe could be an indication of feeble-mindedness, and cause for commitment to the institution through a juvenile or district court. Such individuals, though sometimes confined to the feeble-minded school for a decade or longer, would almost always be discharged eventually - whether by escaping, exploiting some legal loophole, hiring a lawyer on the grounds of habeas corpus, or making good on parole by securing a job and an approved-of living situation with the help of a State-appointed social worker.
The disabled were those whom are now most commonly associated with the institution; men, women, and children afflicted by genetic disorders, birth defects, and physical handicaps. Most of these individuals were very susceptible to failing health to the point of death. Many were the children who, without proper medical facilities, often died of common illnesses such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and influenza. These persons, unless placed out to a foster home, a hospital, or sanitarium, usually perished. While some died within months, weeks, or scant days of being committed to the institution, few lived longer than a decade before succumbing to infection or violent epileptic attacks and expiring suddenly.
The permanent custodial cases were a mixed group consisting largely of individuals with definite mental or physical disabilities who were at the same time considered socially unfit. Young women with multiple children out of wedlock - especially with children from multiple fathers - were recommended for institutionalization "until menopause," until the child-bearing age had passed, or until she agreed to have her reproductive organs surgically removed. Many such women were uneducated and impoverished, and sometimes forced into a life of prostitution; others were diseased by syphilis, their sanity fading; still others were mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed, raped and abused by strangers, neighbors, or family members, and brought to the attention of State welfare agencies by concerned members of the community, school authorities, or police officers.
Permanent custodial cases of the male gender were less prevalent; typically more capable - or at least more aggressive than their female counterparts - young men and adolescent boys with a penchant for mischief, violence, or sexual perversion were commonly removed to the Sockonosset Training School, the State Prison, or the insane asylum. Severely disabled men, as with women of the same, rarely lived very long before succumbing to ill health and dying in custody.
"Permanent custodial" cases - men and women - with mild to moderate disabilities who did not succumb to disease or neglect, and who had no other means of support outside the institution, were often allowed to live at the Ladd School until old age, and eventually, death.
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