A. Mental Health:
During the twentieth century, Clifford W. Beers, a graduate of Yale College suffered his first episode of bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness) following the illness and death of his brother. Struggling for his illness, he attempted to take his own life by jumping out a third story window. He was injured but sill alive. He ended up in public and private hospitals in Connecticut.
When he was released , he exposed the maltreatment of people with mental health illnesses and to reform care. In 1908, he published his autobiography "A mind that found itself" which roused the nation to the plight of people with mental illnesses and set a reform movement into motion.
The goals of the movement were:
- to improve attitudes towards mental illness and the metally ill;
- to improve services for people with mental illness; and
- to work for the prevention of mental illnesses and the promotion of mental health.
From that day, America built a legacy of change and progress on Mental Health.
B. Education:
Since 1980, education reform has been focusing on changing the existing system from one focused on inputs to one focused on outputs, the student's achievement. In the USA, education reform acknowledges and encourages public education as the primary source of youth. The reform includes the idea that small changes in education brings large social returns in citizen health, weatlh and well-being. In the past, until 1800, one goal was to reduce the expense of classical education. This type of education is undertaken with a highly educated full-time and utterly expensive personal tutor. So this was available only to the wealthy. Encyclopedias, public libraries and grammar schools were created to lower the costs of classical education.
Many educators dedicated their lives to reform society by reforming education on more scientific, humanistic, pragmatic or democratic principles, For instance, John Dewey and Anton Makarenko were principal examples of reformers. Some reformers incorporated motivations such as Maria Montessori who "educated for peace " and to "meet the needs of the child".
C. Blind/Deaf Community:
After the Industrial Revolution, disabled people were rejected from employment and other segments of society. They were viewed as "worthy poor".
The disability civil rights movement began in the early 19th century. Thomas Gallaudet was one of the reformers who worked on the behalf of the disabled. He was interested in educating the deaf and learned sign language. In 1886, he founded the American Asylum for Deaf-Mutes and for over 50 years the school trained most of the teachers of the deaf in the USA.
Another reformer for the disabled was Samuel Howe, who strongly believed in teaching the disabled life skills . He founded the Perkins School for the Blind where they taught Braille. For his work, he was able to raise money for the disabled.
D. Orphan/Child Poverty
American citizens throughout the nation's history have tried to figure out how to help the poor. Some believe that the U.S. citizens are responsible for the poor, the ill, the elderly, and the disabled. During the 1800s, organized community -wide efforts to help the underprivileged were undertaken. Since then, various reformers and political leaders have addressed the issue of mixed results. Even the most successful reforms have failed to end poverty. At the beginning of the 21st century, more than 30 million people lived in poverty in the USA.
E. Temperance
This movement is a social movement which aimed to end the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movements criticized alcohol intoxication . They emphasized the negative effects of alcohol on health , personality and family life.