Bengt Nirje, “The Normalization Principle and Its Human Management Implications,” 1969

Bengt Nirje, “The Normalization Principle and Its Human Management Implications,” SRV-VRS: The International Social Role Valorization Journal 1, no. 2 (1996):19-23. This is a slightly edited version of the classic, brief 1969 article, originally published in Robert B. Kugel and Wolf Wolfensberger, eds., Changing Patterns in Residential Services for the Mentally Retarded (Washington, DC: President’s Committee on Mental Retardation, 1969), 181-95.

Complete original source available here.

Normalization was the cornerstone of Scandinavian social policy about developmental disability during the post-World War II period. First articulated by a 1943 Swedish government committee concerned about including “partially able-bodied” people in the country’s social service system, it was embraced by parents and eventually written into law. The 1959 Danish law on mental retardation, for example, specified ordinary life in communities as its goal. In this excerpt, Bengt Nirje, the Executive Director of the Swedish Association for Retarded Children, explained the meaning and significance of normalization in detail. In 1969, Nirje thought it would be difficult for American readers to appreciate that “programs based on normalization principles are not dreams but actual realities.” During the 1970s, normalization spread in the United States, inspiring many professionals and advocates who worked with developmentally disabled children and adults.


Bengt Nirje (courtesy of the Minnesota Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities)

My entire approach to the management of the retarded, and deviant persons generally, is based on the “normalization” principle…. As expressed by N.E. Bank-Mikkelson of Denmark, this principle is given the formula “to let the mentally retarded obtain an existence as close to the normal as possible.”….

This principle should be applied to all the retarded, regardless whether mildly or profoundly retarded, or whether living in the homes of their parents or in group homes with other retarded. The principle is useful in every society, with all age groups, and adaptable to social changes and individual developments…. Some of the many facets and implications of the normalization principle are discussed below.

  1. Normalization means a normal rhythm of the day for the retarded. It means getting out of bed and getting dressed even when you are profoundly retarded and physically disabled. It means eating under normal circumstances….
  2. The normalization principle also implies a normal routine of life. Most people live in one place, work or attend school somewhere else, and have leisure-time activities in a variety of places. Consequently, it is wrong when a retarded person, for example, has his training classes, his structured therapies, and his recreation activities in the same building that serves also as his “home.”….
  3. Normalization means to experience the normal rhythm of the year, with holidays and family days of personal significance. Most people change their life situations and refresh their bodies and minds at least once a year by going on vacation….
  4. Normalization also means an opportunity to undergo normal developmental experiences of the life cycle…. [I]t is wrong for mentally retarded adults to live on the same premises as children and youngsters, because this serves as a constant reminder that they are different from other adults, and that they are as dependent as children….
  5. The normalization principle also means that the choices, wishes and desires of the mentally retarded themselves have to be taken into consideration as nearly as possible, and respected….
  6. Normalization also means living in bisexual world. Accordingly, facilities should provide for male and female staff members. When it comes to the integration of retarded boys and girls or men and women, the 1967 Stockholm Symposium on “Legislative Aspects of Mental Retardation”… came to the following conclusion: “Being fully mindful of the need to preserve the necessary safeguards in the relations between mentally retarded men and women, the members of the Symposium are of the opinion that the dangers involved have been greatly exaggerated in the past. This has often resulted in the unfortunate segregation of the sexes in an unnatural way and has militated against their interests and proper development….
  7. A prerequisite to letting the retarded obtain an existence as close to normal as possible is to apply normal economic standards. This implies both giving the retarded those basic financial privileges available to others, through common social legislation…. This includes child allowances, personal pensions, old age allowances, or minimum wages…. Work that is done in competitive employment, in sheltered workshops, or within institutions should be paid for according to its relative worth.
  8. An important part of the normalization principle implies that the standards of the physical facilities, e.g. hospitals, schools, group homes and hostels, and boarding homes, should be the same as those regularly applied in society to the same kind of facilities for ordinary citizens….

For the retarded child, adolescent, and young adult, almost every situation has pedagogical implications,  possibilities, and values. Just as the right education is important for every citizen, so it is important for the mentally retarded to have a right to equal opportunities for education, training, and development.

Development of various abilities always has bearings on the development of the whole person….  To develop a feeling of personal identity is an essential growth factor, and thus the experience of being nameless and anonymous is dangerous and damaging. The self-image of the retarded must be built on letting him experience his personal abilities; thus experience of rejection and disregard created confusion, stress, and unhappiness….

Application of normalization principles has profound implications not only to the retarded but also to the public, to those who work with the retarded, and to the parents of the retarded….

[N]ormal experiences will result in a normalization of society’s attitudes toward the retarded. Isolation and segregation foster ignorance and prejudice, whereas integration and normalization of smaller groups of mentally retarded improve regular human relations and understanding, and generally are a prerequisite for the social integration of the individual.

Normalizing a mental retardation setting also normalizes the working conditions of the personnel. Workers perceive the retardate, his role, and their own roles in entirely different ways. In turn, the workers themselves are perceived differently by society. They enjoy a higher status and gain in self-respect….

Application of normalization principles also can serve to normalize the parents’ situation….

The closer persons in the decision-making bodies of society come to the mentally retarded, the more likely they are to render decisions resulting in appropriate and efficient programs. It may be sobering to many Americans that in Sweden, programs based on normalization principles are not dreams but actual realities brought about by the decisions of “hard-headed” penny-pinching county council appropriation committees.