The term mentally deficient was used in Western Australia from around the 1920s to the late 1970s to describe people with intellectual disabilities. Other terms included educationally retarded, mentally retarded, backward and retarded scholastically.
Examples of these terms being used occur throughout the reports of the government departments responsible for the care and protection of children and young people.
Sources used to compile this entry: Glossary of terms relating to mental hospitals, Western Australia [Document], Date: 2012; Information Services, Department for Community Development, Signposts: A Guide for Children and Young People in Care in WA from 1920, Government of Western Australia, 2004, https://signposts.communities.wa.gov.au//pdf/pdf.aspx.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 25 October 2011, Last modified: 27 February 2015
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00453b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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