Gosh! I cannot fathom telling someone with epilepsy to go into an institution. Respect to yourself and your mother. I hope you are living a happy life ❤❤❤
That could of had been me. I was misdiagnosed at age five of profound mental retardation because I was not talking and did not respond to the psychologist. My patents refused to believe the doctor and took me home and raised me as one of the family. They refused to have me placed in a institution. I am now 60, work as a teacher specializing in autism for over 20 years and living on my own.
My sister was born in 1978 with a severe form of muscular dystrophy. Doctors told my mom it would be best for everyone if she were institutionalized. My mom refused, took her home, and did her best to raise a confident and adept child. Though wheelchair-bound and unable to use her arms or legs, my sister went on study at Stanford University. By age 27 she had earned 2 bachelors degrees, 2 masters degrees, and a PhD. She is now a tenured professor, mother, published author, painter, and has travelled the world.
I, too, earned 2 bachelors degrees, 2 masters degrees and a PhD. My undergraduate degrees were in mathematics and physics, masters degrees in pure and applied mathematics and my PhD in mathematical physics. I suffered from schizophrenia, but triumphed despite my illness. I have been in remission for many years and am enjoying retirement.
That’s incredible. It makes me so sad that was the societal norm was to “lock away” anyone whom was different or “made the family look bad”. She sounds incredible.
Excellent! Perfect examples of what society should know about in order to "change society's attitude" towards the mentally ill as was suggested in this video. There has to be some kind of spark in people that determined, I suppose being raised with love and self-confidence is one of keys! Every child should be raised with both!
He really is. It’s incredible what our mind can do when we don’t put limitations on people. In the documentary made for the 25 year anniversary, he said it was like being in a concentration camp, and I was like wow amazing how after enduring so much, he still went on to learn history and has such a profound vocabulary. I wouldn’t doubt if the treatment in that place disabled children even more, or killed them. 😢. So he’s incredible for making it out and going on to help so many.
My oldest sister was born with Down's Syndrome. Back in the 50's, people just had their kids put in mental institutions, not my parents. My sister lived at home till her passing at the age of 54. My mom became an advocate for education for the mentally disabled in our home town and was an Special Olympic's coach many years.
@@Duvmasta She had many chronic illnesses like most Down's do. Her last year and half was spent in a hospital more than at home with pneumonias and congestive heart failure. She got to where she was vent dependent to keep her oxygenation up. She died of an obstructed bowel that she wouldn't have survived surgery to try to correct.
that is just wonderful sweetie your parents didn't want her to suffer like millions of othrs god bless you as well as your family your mom is an angel god bless, from New Jersey..
This is why we must maintain freedom of the press. The press tells us the stories we don't know about. Stories we don't know we need to hear. Once they tell the story, people can act.
They are doing same to the elderly in these corporate- for-profit nursing homes, You may hear a rare news article occasionally when things have gotten so bad they were closed but they just open up in a different name
I worked at Broome Developmental in Binghamton NY..we received and cared for many Willowbrook residences after its closing ..I am FOREVER IMPACTED BY MY EXPERIENCE..Godbless these souls..
My son has nonverbal autism and I can't imagine just dropping him off with strangers and forgetting he exists. They were just babies. Surely living without the child was harder than enduring through.
I work for a wonderful company that serves individuals with intellectual disabilities. I am so happy how far we’ve come as a society. 3 clients to 1-2 staff members in a home with their own bedrooms. Clean homes, fresh food, opportunities, jobs, friendships, medical care, etc. it’s amazing…
This video absolutely broke my heart. Every child and adult there deserved to be loved for who the were and cared for with dignity. They suffered more than we can know for no good reason. I feel the shame that the administration should have felt, but didn't. Thank you Geraldo and all who had the courage to take a stand for these precious human beings. Each one was "fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God" and deserve to be remembered. 😢❤
And sadly it was not the only one, many people throughout history have been thrown away due to not meeting societal standards. It breaks my heart as well.
The Willowbrook expose' really shook me as a kid. I never forgotten about it. I'm glad to see the fulfilling life, Bernard got to have. Thanks Geraldo... It needed to be shown.
I remember seeing this as a child. I was shocked and then saddened about the state of the depravity. I see that Bernard is doing better now. I'm so happy that he got a second chance at life, but what about the others? No one talks about at least 90% of Willowbrook's patients' aftermath. Where did they all go?
This was in my lifetime. A school friend of mine had an older sister who was at Willowbrook. Her parents had to grease some palms to get her out. It took about a month, during which time they fattened her up, cleaned her up, but still, she was underweight, had callouses on her elbows, knees, toes, and the palms of her hands, and she stank. The reason she was there was because she had Down Syndrome, a mental age of what was misdiagnosed as three or four. She received no therapy, no education, not even proper care. She was not toilet trained. Turned out she learned to care for herself, read, navigate around Queens by bus. She lived in a regular group home with assistants who supervised chores, taught or coached residents, etc. She had a part time job and became an artist. Several of her paintings hang in the state capital in Albany. She later moved to California with her sister after the deaths of their parents. She enjoyed fairly good health until her late 40’s and passed of a heart condition at age 52.
Geraldo changed my life and I didn't even know it until the year 2000 😊 I have epilepsy and I didn't know that before his broadcast it was normal for parents to drop children off at those types of places of they had epilepsy. My parents decided to keep me because they refused to trust me to anu of those places. So thank you Geraldo. You didn't find a treasure in that tomb because you didn't realize that you were the treasure for more people than you could ever imagine!
That's sad because epilepsy is a medical condition, not a developmental disability. Most forms of epilepsy are easily treated. Phenobarbital and dilantin are frequently used, and there are many others. Reinhold Von Treffencaunbowz, MBBS, PhD
He was a light in a truly dark place as I’m sure many others were as well. “If all you see is darkness when you look around, maybe you just haven’t realized you are the light”
@@barneyronnie I'm not saying anyone deserved that fate, but the fact they put people with only physical disability in the same category as mental disability is so utterly dimwitted. It's crazy !
I have a family member with an intellectual disability in New York State. This could have very easily been him. Because of advocacy, hard work and a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my grandparents and his siblings, he is a contributing member of society with an active social life, a purpose and is loved and values by his numerous nieces and nephews
Geraldo is my hero. My sister is mentally handicapped and this story touched me deeply. Blame it on crap doctors who told parents to give up their handicap child.
@@bernadettekennedy2981 My mom told me that my grandma (her mother) thought I belonged in an institution. Thankfully, my mom disagreed and did not put me in one. I have mild to moderate MR. (The new labeling sucks)
I remember my aunt allowed her son to be placed there. He turned up dead. The autopsy showed he had swallowed a butter knife, and no one on staff was aware.
This was me and my now deceased twin brother from ages 3 to 9 til we were put into abusive foster care I still have PTSD from the memories and I'll always resent my parents for putting us there abandoned to a jacked up situation
Thank you for giving a voice to those “inmates” that couldn’t speak for themselves. It’s unfortunate that there were those living beings that were “placed” at Willowbrook, but I hope we have learned and pray that there is never another place that treats humans the way they did.
If it was only 50 years ago - how in the hell do people believe the evils at play in 2023 are all that different from whatever tf permitted this quality of life to the vulnerable. its mind blowing honestly.
Its worse now. Hopefully with Kowalskis winning against JHACH, people will feel compelled to research the current state of affairs in this country and maybe even follow the money.
Those residential institutions were downright terrible! However, just as bad was patients not having support systems when they were thrown out of the hospitals they lived in. Look where deinstitutionalization has got us now, rampant drug addiction, homelessness through the stratosphere, waste of law enforcement and jail resources arresting and imprisoning the mentally ill for things like disorderly conduct, etc. Those people still often end up institutionalized anyways, the asylum has been replaced by the homeless shelter, the jail\prison, and the group home.
This is what I also was thinking about what while watching this video. The whole story is heartbreaking for sure and what happened to those people while in institutions are inhumane and shouldn't be repeated but what is a substitution for the system that question was not answered at all. What we have now are thousands of people out on the street without proper care or system to back them up.
I needed this, keeps me humble and im perspective of why I continue to work in this feild for such shitty pay. We have a long way to go but now we are empowered to give them hope and a life they can be proud to live ❤
I grew up on Staten Island at the time, and the bus to the mall would go through Willowbrook. Eerie quiet. Then Geraldo's report came out, which I watched and of course it was horrific. A few years ago, I saw some footage from it. I suspect and hope it's the closest I'll ever come to having a PTSD-like experience.
@@Carmensandiego_ Just about every Saturday for a few years. The bus would stop a few times while on the grounds, which were huge. Rarely a nurse or attendant would get on or off, very quiet. I can't imagine what must have been going on in their minds.
Geraldo and Jane Kurtin really were the people who helped to expose the abuse of people with physical and intellectual disabilities in institutions. Had they not done this brave work, who knows what laws would’ve been prevented from being passed.
People at my elementary school sp.ed said that I should be sent there if I didn't obey. My mom didn't know what it was, in the 1980s it was still the thing to do with learning disabled kids, just send them away. I thank Rivera for bringing this article to light and showing what kind of hell hole it was. 1970s to 1980s was a huge deal for ADA and Geraldo is a hero. My mom had to pull me out of schools due to the treatments of learning disabilities before 1997. In 1998, my life changed entirely when i would to go to college. I never want ADA to ever go away
For the past 27,years I work with children with different abilities. I gave also worked with adults that were from Willowbrook. The stories where horrific. I'm glad this place was shut down.
I worked there summers 1971 1972, We where collages kids hired to take some the kids swimming. I Would have 9 kids and enough clothes for 5. It's a dumping ground for the unwanted, the smell, was bad, very very bad, flies everywhere. I still have nightmares of those 2 summers. Thank you for taking them down
I am the younger sister of a Willowbrook resident. My brother was what was called “profoundly retarded” in the 60s. He was initially in building 1, the main building. It was ok in there. Then,when he got older he was in building 13 I believe. It was one of the dormitories. I’ll never forget the stench. He was 11 when he died. I was 9. We went almost every Sunday. What a nightmare. My brother had little awareness, but I’m sure he was extremely physically uncomfortable in those narrow hospital beds day after day, likely in his poop until he could be cleaned. I’m almost 63. It haunts me to this day that he was left there.
So there were places like Willowbrook all over NYS, Sunmount in Tupper Lake, JNAdams near Perrysburg NY are two, Sonyea, earlier known as Craig Svhool in the finger lakes. I worked at an ARC in northern New York taking care of some survivors of Willowbrook and reading their case histories broke my heart. I was born with congenital hypothyroidism and could have wound up among these children…and I NEVER forgot it!
Its better than one of these places Prisons renamed mental institutions . I lived it as a child. O.M.G. The services you seek are still compartmentalized eugenics and the medications steal years of life expectancy . the best thing is to learn to live independently and build a life. Capitalism is slavery and we need not conform to a system that victimizes us. ❤good luck to you.
Based on diagnoses and previous behaviors, I would have been institutionalized as a child and adults. I am happy that I exist after places like Willowbrook were shut down.
I taught in a residential school for students with emotional and intellectual disabilities. When I shared with someone at my church. He said," oh you work with those unloveables." He got it wrong.
I just finished reading The Lost Girls of Willowbrook and immediately watched this. Just super heartwarming to see so much good coming from something so horrible. ❤
I remember when the story came out and how angry and said I felt. When I moved to Staten Island and went to Willow Brook Park, I remembered that story. I'm so glad that it's over. And thank you to Geraldo Rivera for doing this expose.
This went up to the 1989's as a young kid living in Puerto Rico we knew who Geraldo was we knew he was feom the island and when he came on TV and showed this my mom cried.
Many of the residents were put into residential homes with adequate staffing. I worked for 28 years at a day habilitation for the mentally and physically challenged. They were all adults. There are so many programs now for parents to help their children. It can be a tough job but also very rewarding.
@@purpleprose1315There aren't. I have 2 developmentally disabled children. The state-provided respite services were an absolute joke, and they are what I need most. It's very difficult to be a caregiver, going above and beyond what most parents do. It's impossible to do it well without breaks or self-care. My kids do attend school and receive therapy, which I am very grateful for....but I'm the one who takes them to school and therapy. I feel as if the pendulum has swung away from "Just put them away" to "They're with the parents 24/7/365, whether the parents can handle it or not." Neither extreme is right.
I volunteered at Great Oaks Center in Beltsville, MD for 7 years. It closed in 1991 due to abuse of residents and funding cuts. The residents there had developmental disabilities, many of them regressed as there were few real programs to help them.
My father in law was in a nursing home. Watching this I was thinking the same thing! People wake up ,stop in to any nursing home and say hi! I know you will be totally blown away with the care that is considered acceptable. 😢I was so discouraged and outraged by his mistreatment and lack of basic care I literally packed a bag and stayed with him . If I could have removed him I would of in a heart beat. His daughter had power of attorney and couldn’t be bothered . I did the only thing I could. I stayed !! It was an eye opener to see the constant mistreatment. The rough handling,lack of simple basic care such as washing his face. He was an amazing man,he loved everyone and looked after everyone!Now he is totally bedridden,cannot even take a sip of water without assistance much less eat .Needed total care! I also witnessed numerous times others were treated badly and left on their own with no assistance.R.I.P.
@@jaimeeedwards5296 I’m sorry bc I’m a nurse in one but I’m tired and I care just too much about elderly people. So I stay so that at least someone can be their advocate. It’s all about money nowadays. I don’t care these are human beings that had lives. They had children jobs family. No one should be treated like they are and all because why they got old and sick. We are all going to get old that’s inevitable. You better believe that.
I’d like to show this video for a workshop in the future through my nonprofit called Lilly Theatre Company. We focus on Inclusion Education and Diversity through the arts. Our nonprofit is very small but hoping to make a difference in this world as best we can. Willowbrook has always been on my mind since I first saw the story about it through my training as a direct care specialist in NY. They wanted us to learn the history of how this country treated developmentally disabled. I was floored and it always stayed in my mind. Once I started masters program at Berklee I decided be about Advocacy through my professional work. People need to know the history. I’m grateful for the changes this country has made but we still have a ways to go. Powerful story. Love and respect for all those suffered and their families at Willowbrook. May healing continue in their lives. ❤
That's great! please email or call our office and we can provide some materials for your screening. information@ddpc.ny.gov (518) 4896-7505 ask for Gina.
its not just letchworth and willowbrook, just about every single state and county institution in every state was like this, a few good exceptions were a few of the private owned and ran places were decent, but most of these places were just deplorable and cruel and inhumane. i do feel however that yes, while quite a few do great in the community, there are so many that just do not and cannot really participate in the community and do better in a sheltered institution or structured environment, they should have changed how these were run, make sure clients had their own belongings, clothes, privacy, cleanliness, human and civil rights; and also, institutionalization should have only been a last resort, not a primary choice, and not for young children , but after over 20 years of working in social services, i can say that, yeah, community supports can be great, but one size does not fit all, and, abuse and mistreatment, denial of dignity and rights sadly happens quit often with home and community support programs and in group homes: plus, because of these type places shuttered slowly over the decades, is a large part of why we have such severe homeless problems, as around 70 to 80 percent of them are mentally ill and or disabled, we have left it up to ''personal choice'' to get treatment when by default most of these folks are incompetent and cannot make a sound decision as ill and unstable as they are, so the institutions should not have been shut down, they should have revamped the system and policies , and mental health screening and treatment needs to, at times, be mandatory for those who clearly cannot manage themselves on their own.
It makes your heart hurt to know what these poor souls were forced to live like. Never should we ever allow those of us who are not able to be whole to be put away and live under such deplorable conditions. We as a human being need to have a responsibility to those born with a disability to see they get the help, the care, the love snd the resources that they deserve. They are Gods children and we have a responsibly to help them achieve all that they can and with dignity and care.
So this is where my IEPS came from, I remember having them When I went to school and I was really struggling to learn the curriculum at school with my learning disability. The help that I got really helped me out. Over time I developed learning techniques and study strategies that enable me to learn and understand the curriculum at school and then later on at college, which I graduated with a degree in History last year at California State University, Northridge.
So it's obviously a very wonderful thing that Willowbrook was closed. However, what happened to the patients that didn't have anywhere to go? It seems like there's a lot of disabled people living and dying on the streets. Sleeping in storm drain tunnels and such. Is there anything available for them? Are there care facilities available and enough space and staff?
Yeah, and at best, the mentally ill and neurologically disabled STILL often end up institutionalized! It's just that now, the single institution has been replaced by 3 more than aren't much better most of the time. These institutions are homeless shelters and rehab facilities, group homes, and sometimes jails and prisons. The mentally ill and neurologically disabled are more likely than almost any other demographic to be arrested and jailed for disorderly conduct and related charges as those weird, oftentimes disruptive behaviors that are typically covered under disorderly conduct statutes also correspond to the behavioral symptoms of certain mental disorders and neurological disabilities. The standard placement for someone with a neurological disability is a group home, which can be a therapeutic environment or can be a miniature version of the old mental asylums in terms of abuse and severe restrictions on basic civil liberties, especially as the power dynamic in group homes is 8 or 9 times out of 10 quite similar to that of traditional families, with the clients as the "children" with no say in what and when to eat, when to wake up and go to bed, the rules, scheduling, etc, and the live-in caregivers as the "parents" with all the authority and decisio making power. Believe it or not, the mentally ill and neurologically disabled who end up in group homes are the relatively lucky ones! If nobody wants to take them in, they end up on the streets, where they're particularly vulnerable to being preyed upon by all manner of criminals, scams, etc, and where they usually end up having to dumpster dive, shoplift or beg in order to eat for the day. If they can find a homeless shelter, they get luckier, but the problem is that most of the truly homeless people (the unhoused, who sleep outside on the side of the street, rather than living in habitable vehicles, hotels, etc) have drug and alcohol addictions, which clash with shelter rules on such things and they tend to be so addicted to the alcohol or drugs that it's all consuming.
Back in 1999 I worked briefly in a group home for Heritage Christian Home. One of the residents formerly lived at Willowbrook. He was brought there when he was a toddler, being that his parents were told by this individuals pediatrician “it’s the best place for your son” Every time I hear Andy Williams sing “Moon River” I think of this “young” man. Andy was his favorite singer and that being his favorite song. Every single time he was bathed/showered he had (wanted) to have that song playing loudly. He was born with cerebral palsy. Unfortunately while institutionalized at Willowbrook he was severely neglected, physically and sexually abused. What amazed me so was his personality. He was not bitter, rather, thankful he now lived in a home. He was “no dummy”. He strived to be a part of the group home as independent as possible. Was proud of what he was able to do. (As he should!!❤) I commended him for his beautiful spirit after having lived through hell at Willowbrook!!! He was a joy! So full of pride, that he made it out of Willowbrook and made certain people around him knew he was worthy and deserving of love and care!!! Shame on Willowbrook hiding all that went on at the cost of precious lives. 😞
Where are the former residents now and is their care really any better today than it was at the time? The cover-up in current care today for those with developmental disabilities is greater that it was at the time. Little progress has been made. The care today is just covered up better.
My daughter was killed 1 year and a half ago the mental health community killed her with the pharmaceuticals that they compounded and then when they saw the horrible damage they did to her they abruptly stopped all meds and treatments. At which point she killed herself. She was a beautiful person inside and out.
I worked for a Medicaid agency in New York State while I was in college back in 2009. Our first day consisted of us watching these horrible tapes on Letchworth and Willowbrook. Back in the day, if parents birthed a child with any sort of disability, it was common practice to sign their parental rights away to the state, and these children would live and die in these horrible places. It’s very sad to see the way these poor kids were treated in such a filthy environment. Thank god we’ve progressed as a society to where parents no longer give their disabled children away and there are more resources to provide services for the disabled.
This was sickening and I lived about a quarter of a mile away from Willowbrook State school, and I cannot believe what went on there - I was no older than 25 when it was dismantled due to Geraldo Rivera. A lot of the residents there were not all mentally challenged, some had Autism, Asperger‘s , etc but back then there wasn’t any special needs agencies or doctors, so everybody got thrown into one pot. My husband‘s mother worked there, either in the kitchen or laundry room and the stories he told me, cannot be repeated, because it was heartbreaking?
My son has a deletion on his fourth chromosome which can cause a multitude of symptoms, but his mostly manifests as developmental delays and a harmless heart murmur. He didnt talk until 5, and he is 7 now with about toddler level speech. I feel I am his guardian and protector. I cant imagine ever letting someone else take over as his main caregiver.
I don't understand the people who worked there, day one I would have shouted it to the hills and back - people say "oh, you don't know what you would do until put into that situation..." But let me tell you, some of us are not designed to sit back and shut up, even if it isn't in our best interest... NO WAY would I have just gone to work there every day and kept coming back without doing anything...I would have gotten another job and kept on shouting about it until somebody heard me!
They were understaffed…they could only get lazy people like the resentful key stealing scum bag in this documentary..Leaving would do no good, getting more staff and funding would have…
I worked in the the early 70s in Canada in a place like for mentally handy cap people it was not like this it was wonderful and fun we really took care of them.
This makes me glad that my son who has autism was born in 1997 not 1967 or earlier. I know that if he had been born at that time or earlier my husband I would have been heavily pressured to put our son in such a horrible place.
“They were living coffins for devalued people.” That is horrible. To be reduced like that. If only those patients were treated differently, it could have been revolutionary. Those hospitals of torture could have been “healing hospitals” places of spirituality, love and education. Perhaps that will be the future approach to mental illness. More love, less judgment.
I was actually surprised that it wasn’t just a government run business that used its budget to pay staff and adhere to human rights laws without any kind of financial corruption from those who have college degrees to work in any other sales industry
I can't imagine what it was like for the Bernard fellow with Geraldo who was a patient or inmate or whatever. He's obviously a normal man intellectually but probably has cerebral palsy or something. He had to live there fully understanding his surroundings.
I have worked with children and adults with learning disabilities in schools and community homes for 20+ years. Although much better, there is still need for a lot more improvement, in particular adults with LDs x
Quality of care, as was noted in this story has to do with the quality and quantity of the staff and adequate funding. It is not due to the environment.(eg. state facility, group home, supported living, etc)
For those who aren't aware disablity day of mourning happens every year in March. There is also a website where those with disabilities who have list there lives as a result of situations like this/at the hands of parents/caregiver can be listed.
I just subscribed to your channel I was born in 1960 I never known about this place until now I didn't know that they treated people with special needs Iike that they was supposed to help them not to treat that way with so much love 💕 Ms Joy your new subscriber
It is happening still in group homes and assisted living facilities!!! Can someone please point in a direction where to go when its places like mychoicewi, and dane county that are behind these atrocities?
I was born with epilepsy.
Docs told my mom to put me in an institution.
She told them he'll no . And raised me herself.
Thank you momma .
Gosh! I cannot fathom telling someone with epilepsy to go into an institution. Respect to yourself and your mother. I hope you are living a happy life ❤❤❤
I have epilepsy this hits me .. even now how little is known about it but it's coming a long way..
@@Lil-p5s I am
I have a good life .
That could of had been me. I was misdiagnosed at age five of profound mental retardation because I was not talking and did not respond to the psychologist. My patents refused to believe the doctor and took me home and raised me as one of the family. They refused to have me placed in a institution. I am now 60, work as a teacher specializing in autism for over 20 years and living on my own.
God bless
May God bless you.
Those poor people thank God something was done
Thank you for what you do.
God HAS blessed him 😇🙏💯💞
My sister was born in 1978 with a severe form of muscular dystrophy.
Doctors told my mom it would be best for everyone if she were institutionalized.
My mom refused, took her home, and did her best to raise a confident and adept child.
Though wheelchair-bound and unable to use her arms or legs, my sister went on study at Stanford University.
By age 27 she had earned 2 bachelors degrees, 2 masters degrees, and a PhD.
She is now a tenured professor, mother, published author, painter, and has travelled the world.
I, too, earned 2 bachelors degrees, 2 masters degrees and a PhD. My undergraduate degrees were in mathematics and physics, masters degrees in pure and applied mathematics and my PhD in mathematical physics. I suffered from schizophrenia, but triumphed despite my illness. I have been in remission for many years and am enjoying retirement.
That’s incredible. It makes me so sad that was the societal norm was to “lock away” anyone whom was different or “made the family look bad”. She sounds incredible.
Excellent! Perfect examples of what society should know about in order to "change society's attitude" towards the mentally ill as was suggested in this video. There has to be some kind of spark in people that determined, I suppose being raised with love and self-confidence is one of keys! Every child should be raised with both!
Life doesn’t happen to you. It happens for you….
Dr . Wayne Dyer..
Holy wow! I’ll never complain about nonsense again. That is absolutely amazing.
My Grandmother, Francis Olivero, was murdered while being held at the Willowbrook.
She will never be forgotten❤️💐
I'm so sorry
I'm so sorry for your loss 😢
😭💔💔💔
@@michelleplants3005 deeply soory for your loss. The voices , the din still echos in my memory. We will never forget.
So Sorry 😢
Bernard is a true survivor, hero and a legend!
He's obviously a genius😊.
He really is. It’s incredible what our mind can do when we don’t put limitations on people. In the documentary made for the 25 year anniversary, he said it was like being in a concentration camp, and I was like wow amazing how after enduring so much, he still went on to learn history and has such a profound vocabulary. I wouldn’t doubt if the treatment in that place disabled children even more, or killed them. 😢. So he’s incredible for making it out and going on to help so many.
My oldest sister was born with Down's Syndrome. Back in the 50's, people just had their kids put in mental institutions, not my parents. My sister lived at home till her passing at the age of 54. My mom became an advocate for education for the mentally disabled in our home town and was an Special Olympic's coach many years.
May God bless your mom.
What did she die from?
@@Duvmasta
She had many chronic illnesses like most Down's do. Her last year and half was spent in a hospital more than at home with pneumonias and congestive heart failure. She got to where she was vent dependent to keep her oxygenation up. She died of an obstructed bowel that she wouldn't have survived surgery to try to correct.
@@deniseshannon4645 why do many people with downs syndromes have many chronic illnesses?
that is just wonderful sweetie your parents didn't want her to suffer like millions of othrs god bless you as well as your family your mom is an angel god bless, from New Jersey..
I just want to sit down and talk Bernard for hours. What an amazing advocate. It amazes me that his name isn’t a household name.
This is why we must maintain freedom of the press. The press tells us the stories we don't know about. Stories we don't know we need to hear. Once they tell the story, people can act.
The press??? They are useless today
They are doing same to the elderly in these corporate- for-profit nursing homes, You may hear a rare news article occasionally when things have gotten so bad they were closed but they just open up in a different name
Freedom of the press? What country are you referring to.
@@Jeffei-qs7kp Even in 1972 it was corrupt. Now it's LONG gone.
It’s definitely gone. They are talking about AI taking over journalism smh
I worked at Broome Developmental in Binghamton NY..we received and cared for many Willowbrook residences after its closing ..I am FOREVER IMPACTED BY MY EXPERIENCE..Godbless these souls..
I would love to hear some stories. Did you ever have anyone tell you any good memories?
My son has nonverbal autism and I can't imagine just dropping him off with strangers and forgetting he exists. They were just babies. Surely living without the child was harder than enduring through.
I work for a wonderful company that serves individuals with intellectual disabilities. I am so happy how far we’ve come as a society. 3 clients to 1-2 staff members in a home with their own bedrooms. Clean homes, fresh food, opportunities, jobs, friendships, medical care, etc. it’s amazing…
Though group homes can be almost as bad as the old lunatic asylums.
This video absolutely broke my heart. Every child and adult there deserved to be loved for who the were and cared for with dignity. They suffered more than we can know for no good reason. I feel the shame that the administration should have felt, but didn't. Thank you Geraldo and all who had the courage to take a stand for these precious human beings. Each one was "fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God" and deserve to be remembered. 😢❤
Amen and may God Bless those precious souls.
And sadly it was not the only one, many people throughout history have been thrown away due to not meeting societal standards. It breaks my heart as well.
The Willowbrook expose' really shook me as a kid. I never forgotten about it. I'm glad to see the fulfilling life, Bernard got to have. Thanks Geraldo... It needed to be shown.
I remember seeing this as a child. I was shocked and then saddened about the state of the depravity. I see that Bernard is doing better now. I'm so happy that he got a second chance at life, but what about the others? No one talks about at least 90% of Willowbrook's patients' aftermath. Where did they all go?
This was in my lifetime. A school friend of mine had an older sister who was at Willowbrook. Her parents had to grease some palms to get her out. It took about a month, during which time they fattened her up, cleaned her up, but still, she was underweight, had callouses on her elbows, knees, toes, and the palms of her hands, and she stank. The reason she was there was because she had Down Syndrome, a mental age of what was misdiagnosed as three or four. She received no therapy, no education, not even proper care. She was not toilet trained. Turned out she learned to care for herself, read, navigate around Queens by bus. She lived in a regular group home with assistants who supervised chores, taught or coached residents, etc. She had a part time job and became an artist. Several of her paintings hang in the state capital in Albany. She later moved to California with her sister after the deaths of their parents. She enjoyed fairly good health until her late 40’s and passed of a heart condition at age 52.
Geraldo changed my life and I didn't even know it until the year 2000 😊 I have epilepsy and I didn't know that before his broadcast it was normal for parents to drop children off at those types of places of they had epilepsy. My parents decided to keep me because they refused to trust me to anu of those places. So thank you Geraldo. You didn't find a treasure in that tomb because you didn't realize that you were the treasure for more people than you could ever imagine!
That's sad because epilepsy is a medical condition, not a developmental disability. Most forms of epilepsy are easily treated. Phenobarbital and dilantin are frequently used, and there are many others.
Reinhold Von Treffencaunbowz, MBBS, PhD
He was a light in a truly dark place as I’m sure many others were as well. “If all you see is darkness when you look around, maybe you just haven’t realized you are the light”
@@barneyronnie I'm not saying anyone deserved that fate, but the fact they put people with only physical disability in the same category as mental disability is so utterly dimwitted. It's crazy !
this is such a great follow-up to the big willowbrook 25 years after documentary, its great to see Bernard still alive and kickin' ass !
I have a family member with an intellectual disability in New York State. This could have very easily been him. Because of advocacy, hard work and a lot of sacrifices on behalf of my grandparents and his siblings, he is a contributing member of society with an active social life, a purpose and is loved and values by his numerous nieces and nephews
This is truly devastating! Bless the whistleblowers!
Geraldo is my hero. My sister is mentally handicapped and this story touched me deeply. Blame it on crap doctors who told parents to give up their handicap child.
No, that's the way it was back then
@@jolenehendrickson8915 I knew lots of mentally handicapped children whose family did not abandon them including my sister despite bad doctors
I was in the chemist one day and a woman said "The doctor knows best ".
I didn't know the woman but I said no, doctors don't know everything.
@@bernadettekennedy2981 My mom told me that my grandma (her mother) thought I belonged in an institution. Thankfully, my mom disagreed and did not put me in one. I have mild to moderate MR. (The new labeling sucks)
@@Chaseniceness EXACTLY! I'm very weary of doctors, mostly because (unlike nurses) most of them refuse to connect with their patients.
I remember my aunt allowed her son to be placed there. He turned up dead. The autopsy showed he had swallowed a butter knife, and no one on staff was aware.
😭💔💔💔
How immeasurably horrific!!!
😱😞💔😞😱
Wow! 🙏🏾
Omg why, so tragic 😥
Thank you God and thank you Geraldo
This was me and my now deceased twin brother from ages 3 to 9 til we were put into abusive foster care I still have PTSD from the memories and I'll always resent my parents for putting us there abandoned to a jacked up situation
Where you at in Willowbrook ?
Thank you for giving a voice to those “inmates” that couldn’t speak for themselves. It’s unfortunate that there were those living beings that were “placed” at Willowbrook, but I hope we have learned and pray that there is never another place that treats humans the way they did.
If it was only 50 years ago - how in the hell do people believe the evils at play in 2023 are all that different from whatever tf permitted this quality of life to the vulnerable. its mind blowing honestly.
There is a present day documentary winterbourne view the nasty treatment of vulnerable disabled people it is now closed its disgusting
@@lindacarr4442 watching it now thank you Linda
Its worse now. Hopefully with Kowalskis winning against JHACH, people will feel compelled to research the current state of affairs in this country and maybe even follow the money.
Those residential institutions were downright terrible! However, just as bad was patients not having support systems when they were thrown out of the hospitals they lived in. Look where deinstitutionalization has got us now, rampant drug addiction, homelessness through the stratosphere, waste of law enforcement and jail resources arresting and imprisoning the mentally ill for things like disorderly conduct, etc. Those people still often end up institutionalized anyways, the asylum has been replaced by the homeless shelter, the jail\prison, and the group home.
This is what I also was thinking about what while watching this video. The whole story is heartbreaking for sure and what happened to those people while in institutions are inhumane and shouldn't be repeated but what is a substitution for the system that question was not answered at all. What we have now are thousands of people out on the street without proper care or system to back them up.
I needed this, keeps me humble and im perspective of why I continue to work in this feild for such shitty pay. We have a long way to go but now we are empowered to give them hope and a life they can be proud to live ❤
I grew up on Staten Island at the time, and the bus to the mall would go through Willowbrook. Eerie quiet. Then Geraldo's report came out, which I watched and of course it was horrific. A few years ago, I saw some footage from it. I suspect and hope it's the closest I'll ever come to having a PTSD-like experience.
That's so creepy to think you just happen to be riding right by.
@@Carmensandiego_ Just about every Saturday for a few years. The bus would stop a few times while on the grounds, which were huge. Rarely a nurse or attendant would get on or off, very quiet. I can't imagine what must have been going on in their minds.
Geraldo and Jane Kurtin really were the people who helped to expose the abuse of people with physical and intellectual disabilities in institutions. Had they not done this brave work, who knows what laws would’ve been prevented from being passed.
People at my elementary school sp.ed said that I should be sent there if I didn't obey. My mom didn't know what it was, in the 1980s it was still the thing to do with learning disabled kids, just send them away. I thank Rivera for bringing this article to light and showing what kind of hell hole it was. 1970s to 1980s was a huge deal for ADA and Geraldo is a hero.
My mom had to pull me out of schools due to the treatments of learning disabilities before 1997. In 1998, my life changed entirely when i would to go to college. I never want ADA to ever go away
We have come a long way
Why didn't you just do your homework and behave?
For the past 27,years I work with children with different abilities. I gave also worked with adults that were from Willowbrook. The stories where horrific. I'm glad this place was shut down.
I worked there summers 1971 1972, We where collages kids hired to take some the kids swimming. I Would have 9 kids and enough clothes for 5. It's a dumping ground for the unwanted, the smell, was bad, very very bad, flies everywhere. I still have nightmares of those 2 summers. Thank you for taking them down
I am the younger sister of a Willowbrook resident. My brother was what was called “profoundly retarded” in the 60s. He was initially in building 1, the main building. It was ok in there. Then,when he got older he was in building 13 I believe. It was one of the dormitories. I’ll never forget the stench. He was 11 when he died. I was 9. We went almost every Sunday. What a nightmare. My brother had little awareness, but I’m sure he was extremely physically uncomfortable in those narrow hospital beds day after day, likely in his poop until he could be cleaned. I’m almost 63. It haunts me to this day that he was left there.
😭💔💔💔
So there were places like Willowbrook all over NYS, Sunmount in Tupper Lake, JNAdams near Perrysburg NY are two, Sonyea, earlier known as Craig Svhool in the finger lakes. I worked at an ARC in northern New York taking care of some survivors of Willowbrook and reading their case histories broke my heart. I was born with congenital hypothyroidism and could have wound up among these children…and I NEVER forgot it!
I am glad that I have a family who believes in me, and now I am happy of who I became!
We ask for change. We demand change ! why cant we demand these things in 2023 ???? we need to do so much better !
This is the first documentary that made me cry...
Shout out to Geraldo, I'm glad u ever took any time to intervein. Bless these human beings, 🙏 I hope they found peace and the Angels.
My brother is mentally challenged and in rural NYS, there are NO resources. It's sickening.
Its better than one of these places Prisons renamed mental institutions . I lived it as a child. O.M.G. The services you seek are still compartmentalized eugenics and the medications steal years of life expectancy . the best thing is to learn to live independently and build a life. Capitalism is slavery and we need not conform to a system that victimizes us. ❤good luck to you.
Based on diagnoses and previous behaviors, I would have been institutionalized as a child and adults. I am happy that I exist after places like Willowbrook were shut down.
wow it's wonderful to see you and Bernard together again . especially now
I've worked in these places back in Illinois in the 1960s. I am a recovering RN.
You should document your life experience. If the older generation doesn't, it'll be lost forever
I taught in a residential school for students with emotional and intellectual disabilities. When I shared with someone at my church. He said," oh you work with those unloveables." He got it wrong.
WoW how horrible and so sad......
You work with the loveables!!!
I just finished reading The Lost Girls of Willowbrook and immediately watched this. Just super heartwarming to see so much good coming from something so horrible. ❤
It's just very sad how we as human beings treat each other. No matter what because no one is perfect.
I remember when the story came out and how angry and said I felt. When I moved to Staten Island and went to Willow Brook Park, I remembered that story. I'm so glad that it's over. And thank you to Geraldo Rivera for doing this expose.
Thank you for sharing your stories. We need to ensure that this never happens again.
Rip all the children and adults that were committed to willowbrook asylum that were forgotten
Every human being deserves to be treated with Love and respect.I am glad this hospital is Gone.
Now they just end up alone and with no protection while being trafficked through foster care.
@@purpleprose1315right ? We need a happy medium
This went up to the 1989's as a young kid living in Puerto Rico we knew who Geraldo was we knew he was feom the island and when he came on TV and showed this my mom cried.
I worked at the Walnut in Nunda, New York we had 6 people there from Willowbrook.
Many of the residents were put into residential homes with adequate staffing. I worked for 28 years at a day habilitation for the mentally and physically challenged. They were all adults. There are so many programs now for parents to help their children. It can be a tough job but also very rewarding.
Staffing issues are there. And the new employee's unfortunately alot of them can't put there phones down and do there job like they should.
There really isnt "so many programs".
@@purpleprose1315There aren't. I have 2 developmentally disabled children. The state-provided respite services were an absolute joke, and they are what I need most. It's very difficult to be a caregiver, going above and beyond what most parents do. It's impossible to do it well without breaks or self-care. My kids do attend school and receive therapy, which I am very grateful for....but I'm the one who takes them to school and therapy. I feel as if the pendulum has swung away from "Just put them away" to "They're with the parents 24/7/365, whether the parents can handle it or not." Neither extreme is right.
I volunteered at Great Oaks Center in Beltsville, MD for 7 years. It closed in 1991 due to abuse of residents and funding cuts. The residents there had developmental disabilities, many of them regressed as there were few real programs to help them.
There STILL are very few programs to help them!
It’s happening now in nursing homes. It’s sick
You are so true
Exactly
My father in law was in a nursing home. Watching this I was thinking the same thing! People wake up ,stop in to any nursing home and say hi! I know you will be totally blown away with the care that is considered acceptable. 😢I was so discouraged and outraged by his mistreatment and lack of basic care I literally packed a bag and stayed with him . If I could have removed him I would of in a heart beat. His daughter had power of attorney and couldn’t be bothered . I did the only thing I could. I stayed !! It was an eye opener to see the constant mistreatment. The rough handling,lack of simple basic care such as washing his face. He was an amazing man,he loved everyone and looked after everyone!Now he is totally bedridden,cannot even take a sip of water without assistance much less eat .Needed total care! I also witnessed numerous times others were treated badly and left on their own with no assistance.R.I.P.
@@jaimeeedwards5296 I’m sorry bc I’m a nurse in one but I’m tired and I care just too much about elderly people. So I stay so that at least someone can be their advocate. It’s all about money nowadays. I don’t care these are human beings that had lives. They had children jobs family. No one should be treated like they are and all because why they got old and sick. We are all going to get old that’s inevitable. You better believe that.
@@jaimeeedwards5296 treat folks how you want to be treated
I’d like to show this video for a workshop in the future through my nonprofit called Lilly Theatre Company. We focus on Inclusion Education and Diversity through the arts. Our nonprofit is very small but hoping to make a difference in this world as best we can. Willowbrook has always been on my mind since I first saw the story about it through my training as a direct care specialist in NY. They wanted us to learn the history of how this country treated developmentally disabled. I was floored and it always stayed in my mind. Once I started masters program at Berklee I decided be about Advocacy through my professional work. People need to know the history. I’m grateful for the changes this country has made but we still have a ways to go. Powerful story. Love and respect for all those suffered and their families at Willowbrook. May healing continue in their lives. ❤
That's great! please email or call our office and we can provide some materials for your screening. information@ddpc.ny.gov (518) 4896-7505 ask for Gina.
its not just letchworth and willowbrook, just about every single state and county institution in every state was like this, a few good exceptions were a few of the private owned and ran places were decent, but most of these places were just deplorable and cruel and inhumane. i do feel however that yes, while quite a few do great in the community, there are so many that just do not and cannot really participate in the community and do better in a sheltered institution or structured environment, they should have changed how these were run, make sure clients had their own belongings, clothes, privacy, cleanliness, human and civil rights; and also, institutionalization should have only been a last resort, not a primary choice, and not for young children , but after over 20 years of working in social services, i can say that, yeah, community supports can be great, but one size does not fit all, and, abuse and mistreatment, denial of dignity and rights sadly happens quit often with home and community support programs and in group homes: plus, because of these type places shuttered slowly over the decades, is a large part of why we have such severe homeless problems, as around 70 to 80 percent of them are mentally ill and or disabled, we have left it up to ''personal choice'' to get treatment when by default most of these folks are incompetent and cannot make a sound decision as ill and unstable as they are, so the institutions should not have been shut down, they should have revamped the system and policies , and mental health screening and treatment needs to, at times, be mandatory for those who clearly cannot manage themselves on their own.
It makes your heart hurt to know what these poor souls were forced to live like. Never should we ever allow those of us who are not able to be whole to be put away and live under such deplorable conditions. We as a human being need to have a responsibility to those born with a disability to see they get the help, the care, the love snd the resources that they deserve. They are Gods children and we have a responsibly to help them achieve all that they can and with dignity and care.
I'd never heard of Willowbrook before. I have a new respect for Geraldo Rivera after watching this.
THANK you for uploading this. I see so many familiar faces from the "25 years on" documentary, God love them!
Rivera is an Angel
So this is where my IEPS came from, I remember having them When I went to school and I was really struggling to learn the curriculum at school with my learning disability. The help that I got really helped me out. Over time I developed learning techniques and study strategies that enable me to learn and understand the curriculum at school and then later on at college, which I graduated with a degree in History last year at California State University, Northridge.
I always wondered what happened to the “inmates” after this story first aired. Thanks for the follow up. ❤
Inmates? No! Each one is a person just like the rest of us who haven’t ever lived in such deplorable conditions.
@@cathykrus6433the word is in quotes due to Rivera using the word in an interview. I doubt they meant to be disrespectful.
Living coffins for devalued people. That one line is too much for me. I'm not sure I can get that out of my mind.
Absolutely heartbreaking 😭💔💔
I remember that expose. It was huge. It really changed the world.
So it's obviously a very wonderful thing that Willowbrook was closed. However, what happened to the patients that didn't have anywhere to go? It seems like there's a lot of disabled people living and dying on the streets. Sleeping in storm drain tunnels and such. Is there anything available for them? Are there care facilities available and enough space and staff?
In Europe it's the same
They follow the advice, or should i say orders, of the big brother USA.
We're sick.of their bullshit here!
No, there isn't! This is the part people fail to recognize!
@@ang_ro they just get thrown to the wolves. 💔😪😪
@@ang_ro that's the problem. Yes places like Willowbrook were horrific, but then they got rid of facilities altogether which didn't help either
Yeah, and at best, the mentally ill and neurologically disabled STILL often end up institutionalized! It's just that now, the single institution has been replaced by 3 more than aren't much better most of the time. These institutions are homeless shelters and rehab facilities, group homes, and sometimes jails and prisons. The mentally ill and neurologically disabled are more likely than almost any other demographic to be arrested and jailed for disorderly conduct and related charges as those weird, oftentimes disruptive behaviors that are typically covered under disorderly conduct statutes also correspond to the behavioral symptoms of certain mental disorders and neurological disabilities.
The standard placement for someone with a neurological disability is a group home, which can be a therapeutic environment or can be a miniature version of the old mental asylums in terms of abuse and severe restrictions on basic civil liberties, especially as the power dynamic in group homes is 8 or 9 times out of 10 quite similar to that of traditional families, with the clients as the "children" with no say in what and when to eat, when to wake up and go to bed, the rules, scheduling, etc, and the live-in caregivers as the "parents" with all the authority and decisio making power.
Believe it or not, the mentally ill and neurologically disabled who end up in group homes are the relatively lucky ones! If nobody wants to take them in, they end up on the streets, where they're particularly vulnerable to being preyed upon by all manner of criminals, scams, etc, and where they usually end up having to dumpster dive, shoplift or beg in order to eat for the day. If they can find a homeless shelter, they get luckier, but the problem is that most of the truly homeless people (the unhoused, who sleep outside on the side of the street, rather than living in habitable vehicles, hotels, etc) have drug and alcohol addictions, which clash with shelter rules on such things and they tend to be so addicted to the alcohol or drugs that it's all consuming.
Back in 1999 I worked briefly in a group home for Heritage Christian Home. One of the residents formerly lived at Willowbrook. He was brought there when he was a toddler, being that his parents were told by this individuals pediatrician “it’s the best place for your son”
Every time I hear Andy Williams sing “Moon River” I think of this “young” man. Andy was his favorite singer and that being his favorite song. Every single time he was bathed/showered he had (wanted) to have that song playing loudly.
He was born with cerebral palsy. Unfortunately while institutionalized at Willowbrook he was severely neglected, physically and sexually abused. What amazed me so was his personality. He was not bitter, rather, thankful he now lived in a home. He was “no dummy”. He strived to be a part of the group home as independent as possible. Was proud of what he was able to do. (As he should!!❤)
I commended him for his beautiful spirit after having lived through hell at Willowbrook!!!
He was a joy! So full of pride, that he made it out of Willowbrook and made certain people around him knew he was worthy and deserving of love and care!!!
Shame on Willowbrook hiding all that went on at the cost of precious lives. 😞
Thank you for this video.
This is heartbreaking 😢😢😢
Where are the former residents now and is their care really any better today than it was at the time?
The cover-up in current care today for those with developmental disabilities is greater that it was at the time. Little progress has been made. The care today is just covered up better.
I've worked with adults with disabilities for 25 years and this makes me sick and I'm 60 yrs old
My daughter was killed 1 year and a half ago the mental health community killed her with the pharmaceuticals that they compounded and then when they saw the horrible damage they did to her they abruptly stopped all meds and treatments. At which point she killed herself. She was a beautiful person inside and out.
So, so profoundly sad....
Oh my heart. How could humanity be so cruel. 😢
I remember. Shocking and horribly sad
..even today 50 years after it closed...
I worked for a Medicaid agency in New York State while I was in college back in 2009. Our first day consisted of us watching these horrible tapes on Letchworth and Willowbrook. Back in the day, if parents birthed a child with any sort of disability, it was common practice to sign their parental rights away to the state, and these children would live and die in these horrible places. It’s very sad to see the way these poor kids were treated in such a filthy environment. Thank god we’ve progressed as a society to where parents no longer give their disabled children away and there are more resources to provide services for the disabled.
Thank you.
This was sickening and I lived about a quarter of a mile away from Willowbrook State school, and I cannot believe what went on there - I was no older than 25 when it was dismantled due to Geraldo Rivera. A lot of the residents there were not all mentally challenged, some had Autism, Asperger‘s , etc but back then there wasn’t any special needs agencies or doctors, so everybody got thrown into one pot. My husband‘s mother worked there, either in the kitchen or laundry room and the stories he told me, cannot be repeated, because it was heartbreaking?
Why on earth didn't you report them?
My son has a deletion on his fourth chromosome which can cause a multitude of symptoms, but his mostly manifests as developmental delays and a harmless heart murmur. He didnt talk until 5, and he is 7 now with about toddler level speech. I feel I am his guardian and protector. I cant imagine ever letting someone else take over as his main caregiver.
I don't understand the people who worked there, day one I would have shouted it to the hills and back - people say "oh, you don't know what you would do until put into that situation..." But let me tell you, some of us are not designed to sit back and shut up, even if it isn't in our best interest... NO WAY would I have just gone to work there every day and kept coming back without doing anything...I would have gotten another job and kept on shouting about it until somebody heard me!
I have a child with a learining disabilitie it is hard work but you should never give up hard work but rewarding u.k
They were understaffed…they could only get lazy people like the resentful key stealing scum bag in this documentary..Leaving would do no good, getting more staff and funding would have…
I ABSOLUTELY AGREE!!! 💔💔💔
You might want to follow the Kowalskis if you really want to know
I worked in the the early 70s in Canada in a place like for mentally handy cap people it was not like this it was wonderful and fun we really took care of them.
50 years wow time flys by this made cry
This makes me glad that my son who has autism was born in 1997 not 1967 or earlier. I know that if he had been born at that time or earlier my husband I would have been heavily pressured to put our son in such a horrible place.
This is always so difficult to watch - so sad and unbelievable conditions
Thank goodness 😅 for that! I hope all of the residents were well cared for thanks to that KEY 🔑 and Geraldo 💕✨
Omg my Aunt was in this horrible place!
I Love U Sir for Fighting for Those Beautiful Children
“They were living coffins for devalued people.” That is horrible. To be reduced like that. If only those patients were treated differently, it could have been revolutionary. Those hospitals of torture could have been “healing hospitals” places of spirituality, love and education. Perhaps that will be the future approach to mental illness. More love, less judgment.
It’s our responsibility to take care of the disabled…❤❤❤❤❤
Amen to that. 👍
I was actually surprised that it wasn’t just a government run business that used its budget to pay staff and adhere to human rights laws without any kind of financial corruption from those who have college degrees to work in any other sales industry
My Prayers go out to all the Souls, and for the people who gave them, A voice! God Bess! ❤
Rich for Bobby to say this at the start.... Given what his father did to his daughter.
Omg!! This was humanity at the very worst, we should be ashamed that this happened, I'm sick watching this and I didn't even know about this place!!
Its worse now.
I can't imagine what it was like for the Bernard fellow with Geraldo who was a patient or inmate or whatever. He's obviously a normal man intellectually but probably has cerebral palsy or something. He had to live there fully understanding his surroundings.
Makes me scared for kids with disability. I hope they are never treated this way.
I have worked with children and adults with learning disabilities in schools and community homes for 20+ years. Although much better, there is still need for a lot more improvement, in particular adults with LDs x
Quality of care, as was noted in this story has to do with the quality and quantity of the staff and adequate funding. It is not due to the environment.(eg. state facility, group home, supported living, etc)
For those who aren't aware disablity day of mourning happens every year in March. There is also a website where those with disabilities who have list there lives as a result of situations like this/at the hands of parents/caregiver can be listed.
That doctor has the audacity to say .....DUH. I DIDNT KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON BUT I JUST KEPT WRITING PRESCRIPTIONS
3 steal doors installed by someone in authority for toddler area tells me to silence the crying.
I just subscribed to your channel I was born in 1960 I never known about this place until now I didn't know that they treated people with special needs Iike that they was supposed to help them not to treat that way with so much love 💕 Ms Joy your new subscriber
It is happening still in group homes and assisted living facilities!!!
Can someone please point in a direction where to go when its places like mychoicewi, and dane county that are behind these atrocities?
I took care of former Willowbrook individuals at the last agency I worked at. I took a lot of pride in that considering the awful history.