Refrigerator mothers [videorecording] / directed, co-produced and edited by David E. Simpson ; producer, J.J. Hanley ; produced by Kartemquin Films, in association with the Independent Television Service (ITVS).
Format:
[videorecording] /
Publisher:
Fanlight Productions distributor,
Copyright Date:
c2002
Description:
1 videodisc (54 min.) : sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 4 3/4 in.
Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Illinois Humanities Council. Special features: Interview with the filmmakers; additional scenes; soundtrack; web links.
Summary:
From the 1950s through the early 1970s, the American medical establishment thought it had found the cause of autism: poor mothering. Doctors presumed that the bizarre behaviors of autistic children--rigid rituals, difficulty with speech, extreme self-isolation--stemmed from their mothers' emotional frigidity. Medicine now knows that autism is a brain disorder, not the result of poor parenting. But for a whole generation of women branded as cold "refrigerator mothers," the damage had already been done.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.