A Case Study of the Impact of Administrative Frameworks on a Group of Intellectually Disabled Children Admitted to an Australian Mental Hospital in 1952

This dissertation presents a case study of a cohort of 13 of the 86 children who were admitted in 1952 to Newcastle Mental Hospital (known as Watt Street) in New South Wales, Australia due to their intellectual disabilities. The study examined the lived impact of Australian Commonwealth and NSW State administrative frameworks (laws and policies) on their lives. The study adopted a mixed methods qualitative research design informed by a social constructivist world view. Data sources included: laws, policies and publications such as annual departmental reports; the children’s government archival administrative records; semi-structured interviews with 50 stakeholders (members of the cohort, family, nurses, administrators, academics and advocates); and accounts by historians. A systematic literature review of first person accounts was also undertaken. Analysis of the data identified seven broad themes. These were of significance across all stages of the cohort’s lives— childhood, teenage years, adulthood and retirement—but some were more important in some stages than in others. The main findings can be summarised as follows: • Commonwealth and State administrative frameworks set the course of the cohort’s lives in various institutional settings. Such a regimented existence was, and remains, at odds with the goals of contemporary international human rights instruments such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and domestic policies such as de-institutionalisation and personalised care. • Two administrative interventions had a positive impact on the cohort—the introduction of social welfare payments in 1967 the state’s expectations of co-contributions from families and auxiliaries to supplement policy and program initiatives. • The cohort experienced chronic, episodic and intermittent health issues throughout their lives. • Positive relationships with family, staff and peers played a vital role in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities in institutional settings. • Experiences of institutional abuse were identified. The study’s findings led to two main conclusions. First, as long as there are institutional settings, such as those in which several members of the cohort are living today, the full implementation of human rights policies and programs will remain problematic. Second, Australia’s federalist system can both help and hinder the realisation of these rights for Australians with intellectual disabilities. Further investigation is therefore urgently needed to identify ways of minimising or overcoming the barriers that impede the realisation of UNCRPD principles in contemporary residential settings such as aged care facilities. Findings from this study fill a gap in our knowledge of the experiences of this now ageing group of Australians who were admitted to institutional facilities as young children and the impact on their lives of changes in legislation, regulation and policy. They make an original contribution to scholarship in law and public policy, disability studies and Australian history, and challenge us to reflect on the intended and unintended outcomes of current disability policy in the lives of persons with intellectual disabilities.