Personally, I think this is a great topic, which gives much food for thought. Definitely a topic deserving of reflection and compassionate discussion.
I do think though that this might be an emotive and sadly, even a painful one for some people. Especially, if there may have been direct experience of such situations.
No doubt it would have been very painful for relatives, to have someone in their family 'put away'. I think perhaps the only way people might have been able to cope might have been to convince themselves that things were hopeless and that this was for the best to sever all connection. It might be painful now for some people to consider this might not have been the only solution after all when they had been sold that it was.
It might also be very painful if someone may have been put away themselves and felt the pain of family and society rejection. The criteria historically seems to have been quite diverse.
In my growing up years, I knew and met an in law of my sister who had be been 'put away' after an abusive marriage led to a breakdown and she spent the rest of her life in the asylum/hospital. She was someone I will never forget. It was very sad as I think that if such a thing happened today with the right treatment and support now available she may well have got her life back.
I do know that some branches of her descendants were lied to and given to understand that she had died as a young woman when in fact she lived to her eighties.
Those who started the lie may have thought they were doing it for the best, I suppose.
But to me I think the truth should be known, she is long dead and the truth of her life deserves remembering and recording not the airbrushed version. I think she deserves that.
To add, I have read that people could be put away for socially objectionable reasons such as being an unmarried Mother or in some places and times, even 'excessive reading' - I could have been put away for that alone.
I think this subject should not be brushed under the carpet. This is nothing to be ashamed of. We can learn from the past.
I once read about a well known man in the media who had a child with Downs Syndrome. Apparently when the child was born this man's Father cried for a week and thereafter had nothing to do with his Grandchild. I do not think this man was heartless. I rather think that perhaps, a man of his times, he imagined a hopeless situation and he was at a loss about knowing how to cope. If only, he had lived in these times and could have had access to a more positive outlook such as shown on the below site.
https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/end-the-stereotypes
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