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Prejudice categorizes and stereotypes. It closes its eyes to the tremendous range of human qualities inherent in the individual because it must focus on the point of weakness. Prejudice is a group phenomenon, it derives its strength from the fact that it is shared by the many against the few.

Prejudice often is not only cloaked in social respectability indeed it is often backed up by the prestige of the professional community. I well remember an episode during days long past when I worked in an institution for delinquent children, and I talked with the senior physician at one of New York's leading hospitals about an occurrence in our institution. One of the boys had undergone a critical operation. We had to secure large quantities of blood for transfusion and I mentioned how many of our Negro boys had volunteered to give blood for their white comrade and that the most suitable donor with matching blood type indeed was a Negro. The physician said "I hope you did not actually go through with this?" When I replied -- "But, Doctor, there is compelling scientific evidence that there is no difference in the blood chemistry of the white and the black person" -- he said -- "I know. I know. But I still think it would be an unwise move" -- His prejudice clearly allowed him to disregard scientific information of which he was well aware.

That was long ago and today we need not worry anymore about this particular point because pernicious and powerful as prejudice is, it eventually can be overcome by the very force that helped establish and maintain it, the collective social judgement of the community or indeed, society at large. Preduucie -sic- must be fought with knowledge; education of the public must be our weapon.

And thus I want to use the opportunity accorded me today by the Wesley Church and the cooperating radio stations to make an urgent plea on behalf of handicapped children and in particular on behalf of the handicapped child's right to receive, in the words of the United Nations' Declaration "the special treatment, education and care required by his particular condition."

It is a fair statement to make. Indeed it is axiomatic, that a sure sign of a civilized country is a scheme of free education, under public auspices, available to all its children. And I wonder how many of the listeners are aware to what extent in this great and wonderful and evermore progressive and affluent country children afflicted with handicaps are deprived of this right to adequate, free education.

I am well aware that this situation is one that differs, at least in some respects, quite sharply from one Australian State to the next. This means that it is not possible to make definitive statements regarding specific details as far as the total Commonwealth is concerned.

But the very fact that in such a basic area, one so vital to the very existence of the Commonwealth as the education of its children, there should be such glaring differences from state to state, merely underlines how incongruous and indeed intolerable such a situation is. Perhaps I can illustrate this point by telling you about a discussion I had only a few days ago with a young scientist in another state. He had just received an offer to join the faculty of a university in Melbourne; an appointment which might well start him off on a distinguished academic career. Yet he could not see his way clear to accept this opportunity because, on inquiry, he had found out that this city, with all its wealth, its wide well-kept streets, its modern skyscrapers, its fine churches, its museums, and last, but not least, its impressive sports arenas, and ball fields, in short, Melbourne in all its affluence would not provide him with an education for his mentally retarded child, other than by placing him on a waiting list of indefinite duration. And thus the father was sure he would have to decide against this move and remain in the city where his son was enrolled in a school program.

Prejudice against children and adults with handicaps is still evident to varying degrees in countries around the world, but strangely the degree of prejudice varies considerably with the nature of the handicap. And it is the child or adult with a mental handicap who is hit most severely.

At the center of this problem rests the long held belief that with the exception of the mildly mentally handicapped, retarded children are indeed ineducable and not entitled to an education. This belief cannot be based on scientific evidence. We deal indeed with a plain example of prejudice -- all its earmarks are clearly present -- the emphasis on the weakness of the child, on his intellectual limitation rather than on his total needs, the categorization and stereotyping, the insistance on overlooking scientific evidence to the contrary, the protestation that the retarded child must be protected from demands he cannot meet.......

During the past two weeks, my wife and I have been privileged to travel through many parts of this country, and to be recipients of the generosity and hospitality of the Australian people. We have been deeply impressed by the growing cities, by our visit to one of the most impressive capital cities we have seen, by the quality and growth of the institutions of higher learning, and last, not least, by the quality of the social provisions this nation has provided to safe-guard the health and welfare of its citizens. I have pointed up in my brief comments one particular problem area -- small, to be sure, within the total framework of a young, rapidly growing nation, but indeed a problem of enormity to the families involved. There is no question that this country has the resources to do justice to its mentally handicapped children and their families, once persistent efforts have brought to the general public, to government and to the professions a new understanding of the right of the mentally handicapped to an education and of his right to use such education to achieve whatever level of contribution he can make to the common good.