Track My Order
Help Centre
1300 187 187
Likes
My Wish ListsLogin / Join
Booktopia
Australia's local bookstore
Failed Ambitions : Kew Cottages and Changing Ideas of Intellectual Disabilities - Lee-Ann Monk

Failed Ambitions

Kew Cottages and Changing Ideas of Intellectual Disabilities

By: Lee-Ann Monk, David Henderson, Christine Bigby (As told to), Richard Broome (As told to), Katie Holmes (As told to)

Paperback | 1 June 2023

At a Glance

Paperback

RRP $39.99

$37.25

or 4 interest-free payments of $9.31 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 5 to 10 business days

The history of Melbourne’s Kew Children’s Cottages (1887–2008) is the challenging story of an institution that failed its residents and it is vividly relevant to today, when the rights of people with disabilities are the subject of a royal commission.

Those with an intellectual disability were historically the most vulnerable in our society and the least protected. Governments continually failed them by underdelivering on ambitious promises of reform. Failed Ambitions traces the development of Kew Cottages and the broader themes it gives rise to, including changing social ideas about intellectual disability. Australia saw a shift from a belief that those with intellectual disabilities were educatable to a view, which took hold in the 1920s, that the ‘feebleminded’ were unreclaimable and a menace to society. It took until the 1980s to formally recognise the rights of disabled peoples, and demanded dismantling institutions like Kew and associated ideas of disability.

Throughout Kew Cottages’ history, a cohort of journalists, parents, activists and residents fought for and finally gained greater rights and respect. This is a moving and powerful story that deserves to be read by all policymakers so we can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-FictionHistoryRegional & National HistoryAustralasian & Pacific HistorySociety & CultureSocial Issues & ProcessesSocial Aspects of DisabilitiesSocial Services & WelfareSocial Welfare & Social ServicesCare of the Mentally Ill

More in Australasian & Pacific History

65,000 Years : A Short History of Australian Art - Marcia Langton

65,000 Years

A Short History of Australian Art

Hardcover

RRP $79.99

$53.35

33%
OFF
Black Convicts : How slavery shaped Australia - Santilla Chingaipe

Black Convicts

How slavery shaped Australia

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$31.75

Unmasking the Killer of the Missing Beaumont Children - Stuart Mullins

Unmasking the Killer of the Missing Beaumont Children

Paperback

RRP $38.45

$36.75

Dark Emu : Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture - Bruce Pascoe

Dark Emu

Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture

Paperback

RRP $27.99

$16.80

40%
OFF
Killing for Country - David Marr

Killing for Country

Paperback

RRP $39.99

$35.35

12%
OFF
Bennelong and Phillip : A History Unravelled - Kate Fullagar

Bennelong and Phillip

A History Unravelled

Hardcover

RRP $55.00

$33.00

40%
OFF
Girt : The Unauthorised History of Australia - David Hunt

Girt

The Unauthorised History of Australia

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$33.25

10%
OFF
The Fatal Shore - Robert Hughes

The Fatal Shore

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$23.75

The Bush - Don Watson

The Bush

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$23.75

This product is categorised by

Popular Searches