The first publicly supported institution for people with intellectual disabilities was originally named The Massachusetts School for Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth. The school was founded in 1848 by Samuel Gridley Howe, the director of the Perkins School for the Blind. The school was renamed in 1925 to the Walter E. Fernald School after the third superintendent who implemented new programs in education, psychology, social work, and scientific research. The school permanently closed in 2014. While institutions of this kind are recognized today as places of neglect, the establishment of the school in 1848 symbolizes the beginning efforts to formally educate and care for students with disabilities.
References:
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). Walter E. Fernald state School . National Parks Service. Retrieved August 20, 2021, from https://www.nps.gov/places/walter-fernald-state-school.htm.