The Treatment and Lives of the Mentally Handicapped in the 1930’s and as depicted in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men

“Intellectual disability or mental retardation is one of the most common disabilities” (Harbour). In the 1930’s, the mentally handicapped were not given a good reputation. In Of Mice and Men, we learn that Lennie Small is mentally handicapped, and by seeing how the mentally handicapped were treated in mental hospitals, how they lived their everyday life, and their denial of rights, their lives were both similar and different to Lennie’s in the 1930’s.
How the mentally handicapped were treated in mental hospitals often depended on how much money the family had and was willing to pay for the care of a family member who was mentally handicapped. Across America, mental health care was usually underfunded. Mental health care also had very few resources, not enough staff, and old facilities. However, one hospital, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, beat the odds. Bryce Hospital had its very own coal mines, a power plant, and a Laundromat. Bryce Hospital allowed their patients to work in these facilities because it was considered therapeutic to the patients. However, in the 1900’s Bryce Hospital’s staff numbers started to dwindle down. The hospital had over 1,000 patients and only three psychiatrists. Soon, attorneys filed a lawsuit and the case became known as Wyatt v. Stickney. Wyatt v. Stickney was the longest running mental health care case in history (Wilson). In Of Mice and Men, Lennie had the privilege of being a free man and not stuck in a mental hospital like most other mentally impaired people. This may have been because George and Lennie had no money and no resources. Since they had no money, George could not afford to put Lennie in a mental hospital. No matter what the reason was George may have loved that he still had his bes...

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...apped were treated, how they lived their everyday life, and the denial of their rights, we see that Lennie’s life outside of Soledad, California, was both similar and different to the mentally handicapped of the 1930’s.

Works Cited

Ginsberg, Leon. “Stripped of All Rights The Mentally Handicapped.” The Nation. 21st ed. Vol. 218. Nation, 1974. 654-57. Web. 03 April 2014
Harbour, Catherine K., and Pallab K. Maulik. “History of Intellectual Disability.” Home Page. International Encyclopedia of Rehabilitation, Web. 03 April 2014
Moore, Lucy. Anything Goes: A Bibliography of the Roaring Twenties. New York: Overlook, 2010. Print
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 1993. Print
Wilson, Claire M. “Alabama Department of Mental Health.” Encyclopedia of Alabama: Alabama Department of Mental Health. Encyclopedia of Alabama, 2 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 April 2014