Emma Alethe Andreasdatter Hjorth (née Lippestad, 21 May 1858 – 2 July 1921) was a Norwegian educator and founder of the country's first large-scale institution for people with intellectual disabilities.

Background and education

Hjorth was born at Leppestad farm in

Hobøl Hobøl was a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Elvestad. Hobøl is situated about southeast of Oslo. The parish of ''Haabøl'' was established as a municipality on 1 Janu ...

, Norway, to farmer Andreas Andreassen Lippestad and Gunhild Johannesdatter Bovim. She was the sixth of seven children and one of several to have a career in

special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

. Her brother, , was the director for the school system for students with disabilities. Another of her brothers, Carl Thorvald, was also an educator. Women were not allowed to enroll in higher education at the time, so she took the teacher's examination in 1879 individually as a , a person without the right to study.

Torshov school

In 1879, she became a teacher at the Thorshaug Institute for

Feeble-minded The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century in Europe, the United States and Australasia for disorders later referred to as illnesses or deficiencies of the mind. At the time, ''mental deficiency'' encompassed all degrees of educa ...

Girls (, later renamed Torshov Public School for the Mentally Handicapped, ) in Oslo. The institution had been founded a year earlier by her brother Johan Anton. Six of the seven siblings in the Lippestad family worked at the institute on the Thorshaug farm. The staff also included three sisters with the surname Hjorth; she married their brother, architect in 1890. He was the designer of

Norges Bank Norges Bank / Noregs Bank is the central bank of Norway. The bank shall promote economic stability in Norway. Norges Bank also manages the Government Pension Fund of Norway and the bank’s own foreign exchange reserves. History The history of ...

's second headquarters. Hjorth undertook several study trips to institutions in the United States and elsewhere in Europe, including to Philadelphia and Boston in 1884. After seeing children turned away from the Torshov school for being "uneducable" – at a time when the concept of

racial hygiene The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...

held significant sway – Hjorth's mission became to provide education to such students.

Emma Hjorth Home

In 1898, Hjorth established Norway's first large-scale institution for people with

intellectual disabilities Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...

, Mrs. Hjorth's Care and Work Home (). It initially had two residents. The institution was first located in Sjøvolden,

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

, but moved the following year to Solvang, Asker. It was later moved to the Tokerud farm in western

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

, which she purchased in 1903; it had 42 residents around this time. She contributed the majority of the costs through her tireless fundraising. Twelve years later, ownership of the institution was given to the state. At that time it could hold 100 residents. She was part of its committee until her death in Kristiania (today Oslo) in 1921. It was later renamed the (), becoming part of . It was closed in 1996 due to reforms in the care of people with disabilities and a museum was established in 1998.

Legacy

Upon the transfer of the Emma Hjorth Home to the state in 1915, Hjorth stipulated that the area always be used for people with

developmental disabilities Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, espe ...

. The institution was closed in the 1990s and the Regional Activity Center (, REGA) was founded by the Municipality of Bærum for the purpose. It consists of five divisions: , a

guest house A guest house (also guesthouse) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the exclusive use o ...

; , a cafe on the premises of the old central kitchen; , a gymnasium and swimming pool; , a sensory center; and Emma Hjorth Museum, a permanent exhibit on Norway's social–political history. The museum also has a historical walk called , featuring a digital map with information points.

References

External links