"In 1972, WABC-TV in New York sent rookie reporter Geraldo Rivera to Staten Island to infiltrate the Willowbrook State School. Robert Kennedy had visited the mental institution in 1966 and declared: "Willowbrook State School was not fit for even animals to live in." Geraldo gained entry using a stolen key and documented the brutal and horrific living conditions of its disabled residents, which included several mentally retarded children. The report led to an immediate government inquiry and won Geraldo the Peabody Award, forever changing the role of the state run institutional system. Rivera’s expose and book on Willowbrook titled, “A Report on How It Is and Why It Doesn't Have to Be That Way,” was the catalyst that brought about the class action lawsuit primarily responsible for changing this archaic system, New York State Association for Retarded Children, et. al. and Parisi, et. al. v. Rockefeller.
The Willowbrook case led New York State to adopt sweeping change. Moreover, it became popular opinion that these deplorable conditions were unacceptable for people in state-run institutions, regardless of mental disability diagnosis. In furtherance of the goal to better meet the needs of these distinct and vulnerable populations, in 1978, the state Department of Mental Hygiene was separated into three, diagnosis-based offices – The Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and the Office of Mental Health."
It's a shame when journalists allow themselves to be consumed by their own celebrityism. It's a joke when journalists are left with no one else but each other (journalists) to interview. Gross ego is thy name.
Thanks - I remember when he broke the willowbrook story - but had forgotten the year.