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Norah Fry – what can we learn from history?
Author(s) -
Russell Oliver
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of learning disabilities
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1468-3156
pISSN - 1354-4187
DOI - 10.1111/bld.12118
Subject(s) - champion , royal commission , learning disability , sociology , commission , media studies , psychology , pedagogy , political science , developmental psychology , law
Accessible Summary The Norah Fry Research Centre is named after Norah Fry who was one of the first women to stand up for people with learning disabilities. Over a 100 years ago Norah Fry visited people with learning disabilities and their families in Bristol and Somerset to find out what they needed to enjoy better lives. She wrote reports about what she had found and people wrote down what she said should be done to make life better. When she died she left money to the university to be used for teaching and for finding out more about the needs of people with learning disabilities and those who were mentally ill. We can now look back on the changes that she wanted to make and the problems she faced in trying to bring about change.Summary This paper explores how Norah Fry's concerns of 100 years ago have been relevant to the work of the Norah Fry Research Centre. In 1898, Norah Fry began to investigate the social conditions and educational needs of people with learning disabilities living in Bristol and Somerset. In reporting her findings to a Royal Commission in 1905, she set out her vision for the future. For over 50 years, she was a champion for people with learning disabilities. She canvassed support for schools for those excluded from education; she led campaigns to close the parish workhouses; and she sought to establish new patterns of residential support. This account of Norah Fry's life and legacy explores the results of the social investigations which she carried out, the policies that emerged from her work and the resistances she encountered in working for change.