Remember Willowbrook?
Geraldo first burst on the national scene with his Willowbrook espose. People were horrified at the conditions. One result- asylums were closed and the mentally ill turned out on the street to be homeless among us.
“Remember Willowbrook?
Geraldo first burst on the national scene with his Willowbrook espose. People were horrified at the conditions. One result- asylums were closed and the mentally ill turned out on the street to be homeless among us.”
I have worked with the mentally retarded for 20 years. Willowbrook was an institution for them, not for the mentally ill. There is a BIG difference in afflictions.Mentally retarded people ARE NOT mentally ill. They have brain damage that causes a low(below 70) IQ that prevents them from living lives that are completely free from supervision. The conditions at Willowbrook were horrendous because a majority of mentally retarded people need tremendous care. Often they are unable to hold a spoon without assistance. At Willowbrook, many of the lowest functioning patients were left to sit in their own feces, banging their heads against the wall. That was an example where the state did not really know what it was supposed to do in order to care for the most vulnerable of people.Now, in smaller programs and residences, they are able to live quality lives with the help of caring people. The Mentally ill are a different story. They were being well served and monitored in larger programs. Those with mental illness can have very high IQs and deceive people into thinking that they are able to live a normal life outside a supervised environment, but that is not so. When they emptied the larger programs of the mentally ill, they often sealed their fate and the fate of others in tragic ways.