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Despite its good intentions, the holy innocent model has common elements with a dehumanizing ("man as other") perception described by Vail (1966).

The Retardate as a Developing Person. The developmental model takes an optimistic view of the modifiability of behavior, and usually it does not invest the differentness of the retardate with strong negative value. Retardates, even if severely retarded, are perceived as capable of growth, development, and learning. The developmental model is characterized by architecture designed to (1) facilitate and encourage the resident's interaction with the environment; (2) maximize interaction between staff and residents; (3) foster individuality, dignity, privacy, and personal responsibility; (4) furnish residents with living conditions which not only permit but encourage functioning similar to that of nonhandicapped community age peers.

In other words, the developmental model provides an atmosphere as similar as possible to that of a typical home, while introducing some additional features which either compensate for handicaps, and/or maximize the likelihood of developmental growth. Administratively, the developmental model will naturally tend to be a decentralized one, in contrast to the medical model, as a resident-oriented atmosphere demands that staff in immediate contact with residents must possess flexibility and freedom to make rapid decisions.

Specific features of the developmental model might include:

(1) Homelike internal and external design.
(2) Colorful, light, bright, perceptually warm but diversified living units.
(3) Small, self-contained living units.
(4) Bedrooms for 1-4 residents.
(5) Family dining facilities.
(6) Homelike appliances such as toilets, faucets, showers, baths, stoves.
(7) Nonstandardization of design and furnishings of living units within a larger residential complex.
(8) Windows of normal size, type, and placement.
(9) Live-in care personnel.
(10) Plenty of space for individual possessions.
(11) Doors between rooms and areas.
(12) Curtains or doors for baths and showers, and toilets designed for private use.
(13) Homelike access to "controls" such as switches and thermostats. (The idea here, as with other features, is that potentially objectionable behavior will be modified by interaction with caretakers, rather than being made impossible by the design of the physical environments.
(14) Access to "risks," e.g., stairs, electrical outlets, hot water, etc. (Again, the assumption is that residents will be trained to act adaptively, and that controlled risk is part of normal life.)

The developmental model implies less of a perception of the retardate as a deviant, while striving optimistically to minimize, or compensate for, what deviance there may be. In terms of the old cliche, the retarded are seen as more like, than unlike, others. Although particularly appropriate for children, the developmental model is equally meaningful when applied to adults.

O. R. Lindsley once said that our society is willing to spend money on the design of environments that maintain life, but not on those that maintain dignified behavior. Of all management models, the developmental one is probably most likely to provide the framework for a cathedral of human dignity.

Other Roles of the Retardate. In addition to the six roles discussed above, there are other rather well-defined roles into which retardates have frequently been cast. For instance, there is the role of the retardate as an object of merriment and ridicule, exemplified in an extreme form in the functioning of retardates as court fools and jesters. Though historically prominent, these roles will not be examined further because they have had little effect upon residential care models.

The Meaning of a Building

That buildings have symbolic qualities is probably universally recognized. This symbolic quality is the meaning referred to here.

Samuel Gridley Howe was probably the most significant and fore-sighted figure in American history of special education. Through my perusal of original documents, I have formed the conclusion that his role has not yet been fully appreciated, especially vis-a-vis more flamboyant personalities such as Seguin. In 1866, Howe gave the dedication address at the cornerstone-laying of a new institution for the blind in Batavia, New York. By that time, he had been instrumental in founding the early U.S. institutions for both the blind and retarded, had been superintendent of the first such public institution for the retarded (in Massachusetts), and had already perceived and accurately defined most of the shortcomings under which institutions were to labor for the next 100 years. To capture fully the eloquence of Howe's statement on the language of architecture, I have excerpted several passages from his 1866 (pp. 13-16) dedication address:

"Language is of vast extent, and speech is only one of its powers. By speech and by print, men of our generation hold intercourse with each other. There are, moreover, some sorts of language by which the generations of men hold intercourse with other generations, and by which they converse across centuries and cycles of time. Among the various forms of language between generations, and between the ages, monuments hold a high place.