They were labeled feeble-minded and worse. But Dr. Fernald saw the disabled as children. He believed they were capable of finding their own places in society, if given an education tailored to their needs and capacities. Author Alex Green spent ten years researching Fernald’s story to write this groundbreaking new book. He fought for access to hidden records and sifted through more than a quarter million documents that had never been organized or researched. The result is revealing insight into a good man’s dedicated work that traveled a complexity of right and wrong turns.
A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled begins in 1887 when Fernald became superintendent of an overcrowded South Boston institution. It was the nation’s oldest public school for intellectually and developmentally disabled children. He worked urgently and tirelessly, creating the first special education class in America that had astonishing results. He shared those results and exchanged knowledge with worldwide experts, shaping laws and advancing innovative medical treatments. Every evening, this humane man walked the institution’s halls saying goodnight to the disabled children. Meanwhile, he was building a state-of-the-art school for them in Waverley, Massachusetts.
As I was reading this book, I found myself always wanting to come back to it, drawn by its magnetic allure. I had anticipated a “heavy read,” but Mr. Green surprised me. He writes with a magic touch that’s impartial yet enticing, and a tone that’s direct yet pleasing.
The South Boston institution transferred to its new campus in 1905. By then, a terrible incident had taken place that led Fernald into ideas of segregation and mass institutionalization. Two girls had drowned a fellow resident in a bathtub. Fernald as a consequence worked on a disability sub-classification that considered criminal instincts. He also assumed authority over the institutional admission and release of such “deficient delinquents,” something he believed was necessary to protect society, and used his influential leadership with the courts. Meanwhile, a burgeoning eugenics movement was gaining traction, and Fernald got taken in by it. This dramatically reversed his idealistic principles; however, it didn’t last long. He reversed course again, now opposing the eugenicists, criticizing their skewed intelligence testing, biased research, and belief in sterilization. Mr. Green writes:
“It was inconceivable that someone would admit fault on his own and use that admission as the basis for proposing an entirely new way of thinking. But that is exactly what Fernald did.”
Walter E. Fernald comes across as both humane and horrifying, as we follow his career. The power of his story lies in his desire to understand the consequences of his actions because it illustrates the complexities and controversies that happened – from medical to political and social –and continue to happen today — in seeking treatment and equality for the disabled. Dr. Fernald died in 1924. The erasure of his work from history happened swiftly, as did the truths of his experience. That’s changed now, given author Alex Green’s curiosity, hard work, and his superb book.
A version of this review aired on NPR member station WOSU 89.7 FM, broadcasting throughout Central Ohio. A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled by Alex Green is published by Bellevue Literary Press.
The Longest Chapter 