Inside Pennhurst Asylum: Understanding Disabilities Through The Decades | Only Human
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- Опубликовано: 23 мар 2024
- Pennhurst is a former institution for individuals with disabilities. Through personal testimonies, historical context, and insights from advocates, this documentary delves into the challenges faced by residents and the efforts to improve their living conditions. Witness the evolution of care for individuals with disabilities, from institutionalization to community-based support, and learn about the legal battles and advocacy movements that shaped this journey.
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At the age of 5 in 1969 I was misdiagnosed with profound mental retardation and my parents were encourage to put me in a institution. They refused and raised me as a normal child. The doctors were wrong. I had ADHD and learning disabilities.. I was very smart in math and science. I earned degrees in psychology and counseling. I now work with people with autism.
😢
I have autism and teachers doctors and my parents projected me as mentally retarded when it turned out I was capable of learning and now I live on my own and have a college degree
❤
I was/am ADHD, but in the 60’s you were a “bad kid”. I was given something, I don’t remember what it was other than a tiny green capsule. My only son is the same, but he had the Ritalin and Adderal along with Welbruton. His doctor actually prescribed the same for me! I pulled him out of public school and homeschooled him from 7th to graduation. He is very smart and always was. Too smart for his own good sometimes. His daughter who is three is going to be just like him.
So glad your parents didn’t listen and you proved the doctors wrong. Congratulations!
It's truly truly sad, the pro didn't see the whole picture or for see the possibility of over crowding
This documentary literally broke my heart. I have two sisters that were both mentally challenged, one from birth, the other from brain damage after birth. Our mother never gave voice to putting either of them in a 'home.' They were raised by her and those of us that were older and could help her, and stayed with Mom until the day that she died. They went to schools for 'special' kids where the learned to read and write and were taught life skills. They were happy, healthy, and well taken care of by family. They were loved.
Bless you!
were,they died?
Connie said " I have two sisters ...", so no they're not dead. I think she used the past tense in reference to their childhoods as they are now adults.@@felicityjohnston9276
Thank you ma'am ❤️
@@felicityjohnston9276No they lived at Home.
That mother is making me sick. she can't just apologize to her daughter for locking her up in that horrible place for having ADHD? but she's going to make all these fake excuses like that place was rainbows and fairy tales. does she think everybody else is lying?? that the state that shut them down finally after years and years and years of reported abuse is just lying? Just apologize to your daughter!!
Her social life and marriage was more important
It's eye opening to see how people will sugar coat something that they didn't experience for themselves.
I guarantee she saw things that she knew where vile, but she turned her head and thought about what events she would be attending in her wonderland. Out of sight, out of mind.
I can't stand her. She is either in denial or just plan out evil
As I was watching the documentary I was thinking and feeling the same thing. She is in denial forsure.
She really irritated me as well. She wears her ‘rose colored glasses’
Through Catholic Charities I volunteered in the 70's at a state hospital when I was in high-school. I saw things no 13 year old should see. But I also saw many good things and it inspired me to volunteer during every school break I had during high-school. It developed my empathy for humanity and set me on a career of human service throughout my working years and I tried to better the lives of people with challenges. In my retirement, I work as a receptionist at a nursing home. Volunteerism set my life on a path of helping others. Volunteer today.
😊👍💛✝️🕊
God bless you.
Thank you for being a wonderful human who made a difference in many lives.
God loves you!!! But you’re making the rest us look bad 😅😅😅
13 in highschool? unless your school had highschool in 7th grade rather than 9th grade....
I work in a activities centre for people with disabilities and learning difficulties. Im so happy to say its the most loving, happy environment and i consider all customers my friends as they really truly are. Everyone is different and beautiful, no one deserves to be treated less than, its what makes us all unique.
I agree with u Ella7719
I live 20 min from Pennhurst and all I can say is, there but for the grace of God. I'm 39, autistic, and I have chronic depression and pervasive suicidal ideation. It's an awful way to live but knowing that just a few decades before I was born I would have likely been sent here for God only knows how long? It makes my skin crawl.
🥺✌️❣️
Love you
Love you
41:09 41:12
@@Kittycat-it7td love you 😺
Every Saturday, patients were scrubbed down with hose and scrub brush! I worked with Pennhurst patients in the 1970s when the institutions were emptied out.
Sadly you are correct. We used slabs but got modernized bathing equipment with lifts in the late 80s. In the 30’s -70’s there weren’t enough staff and the facilities were old and antiquated. There were just too many people there who needed a ton of care. You tried Thanks for that
As a Mother of a disabled child born in 1991, In Pa.. This breaks my heart and I thank the Lord everyday that we now have services for our children. My daughter is now 32, still lives with me and can not drive. She is a strong Christian women and has held jobs, she still struggles with that. The people that work with her are kind and caring. I am so proud of her progress and truly grateful for those who help her.
As much as its a good thing that these institutions were closed, allot of children with mental health issues and disabilities arnt getting any help at all. I live in Canada where we have the same issue, and it may actually be worse. We may not be actively abusing people much anymore, but we are neglecting and ignoreing them.
I am very happy your daughter has gotten help and is thriving! Hopefully everyone will be able to do as well as her someday
@@Goober_gobbler Amen to that!
I spent 10 years in an Asylum. It made my mental health worse. Sent into the community when it closed down was extremely traumatic. I knew nothing. I was alone in a society that had greatly changed and impacted me greatly.
Sorry for your suffering, ❤
I remember they told me to go work in a workplace for peoples with disabilities cause I'm highly sensitive and not super fast in working. I thought 'ok, work is work' I worked there for 4 days. After those days I just looked for something else. Nobody understood why they sent me there to work.
I hope you find peace.💌🙏
I hope that you have found some peace and take joy in the small things.
@@saggitarusspirit401❤
Mt favorite person in this interview is the well dressed suit and tie man in the wheelchair who they put in a crib. What a sweetheart 😘
I know, he is such a fine and smart gentleman with such a sweet face. Just look at his amazing memory and ability to recall, he deserved to always live a very dignified life not stuck in some crib, I am so sorry!
He seems so so intelligent. I cant imagine what torture that place must have been for him
Same I’m very taken with him.He’s just darling.I know he’s a grown man with a perfectly fine brain but I want to take care of him like a child.
i too noticed his attire!! very well dressed!
@@FleetwoodCaddy59 oh that is so so condescending
Closed down in 1987 after investigations uncovered children strapped to cribs and locked in cages, patients left naked in their own waste in bare dayrooms. Residents endured abuse from fellow patients and staff.
😢So sad 😭😭😭🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
Yet the rich mother insists it “wasn’t that bad”. Whatever she needed to tell herself to get herself through the night. I don’t think she was capable of integrating the reality into her worldview, much less taking responsibility for accepting horrible advice to institutionalize her daughter because it was easy.
That’s horrible and heartbreaking
Reagan had mental institutions closed down in the 80s, that is why. They were literally sent to the streets and “crime” rose intensely in those towns, if you can call them crimes.
I think you are mistaking it for Willowbrook. Geraldo snuck in and recorded the things you mentioned
Rose kennedy was also withheld at birth, the dr told nurse to cross the mother’s legs and wait for him because he wouldn’t get paid if she was born without his presence and that is how she was braindamaged and sent away for destructive lobotomy. That was common practice. I cannot even imagine the pain let alone the damage it caused. 😢
I never knew they'd do that. I shouldn't be surprised though.
@@alisonmercer5946its so heartbreaking!! They treat animals better than that!!! What a horrible life for so many. 😢😮❤
They still did that when my older sibling was born.......my mother said the doctor had not yet arrived, so they crossed her legs to keep him in the birth canal! Thankfully, he suffered no lasting effects from that, but what a stupid thing to do. They babies were being born, and the nurses should have been trained to deliver the babies until the doctors did arrive. More children were born with oxygen deprived brains and cerebral palsy because of those practices!
@@annmarieschantz9724No, sadly we treat animals so, so much worse.
“You keep on badgering me you’re going to be wearing that bucket” 🤣🤣🤣 and she meant business!
Yes! That is about the only part of this documentary that gave me a little smile.
I am a person with disabilities, I have ADHD and Cogitive impairment. We don’t call it Mental retardation anymore. But how people treat us with disabilities is beyond comprehension. Like it hurts me to see those with disabilities treated the way they were. Like it’s horrible how they lived back then, with disabilities.
Dont you dare try and align your struggle to the abuse suffered by people in these institutions you have you ever experienced the kind of abuse that they suffered. At the very beginning of the video it states we use the term mental retardation in the historic meaning, not as the now defunct and offensive term.
It should still be called mental retardation. When you know the actual meanng of words and stop putting your feels before facts, you have never outcomes. All this candy pants bs gets in the way of actual progress.
@@georginacat7667please don't jump on someone who is sharing her own experiences and expressing empathy for disabled people from the past! So inappropriate. There was nothing at all wrong with her comment.
@@georginacat7667 Who are you to judge this person who lives with challenges? We are all here who saw this crime against humanity.
@@georginacat7667 Really?!?! You have no right to accuse this person of not knowing. People with disabilities are still abused today.
“She had no problems” it wasn’t that she had no problems,you were too concerned for your own. You were her problem.
The minute I heard this woman speak....'she was well looked after; the staff were dedicated; they had better medical care; all places have problems'...I thought this woman is willfully blind, she does not want to know what her daughter suffered.
@@franceslynch8815 As a mom of 2, with moderate to profound IDD (Mental retardation) and epilepsy, I totally agree with your comment. I kept making remarks to this woman every time she opened her mouth. She was too busy worrying about her perfect home.
@@theirmom4723 👍😅❤️
That women was the Vice President of something with Pennhurst, naturally she would say that things were great, I'm sorry but her daughter was treated like a v.i.p. without a doubt, she did not want to look beyond that, her daughter was being taken care of, doesn't matter about the rest, she probably never took a step on any of the wards. She was able to put her child into a private setting when it came time to move her out of the institution. There is absolutely no way that the very very limited staff they had there to take care of that many individuals with extensive needs could possibly take care of them period, even the most gifted staff available, it's just not humanly possible. The institution itself is responsible for how the facility was run and I'm sure there were abusers but did they fire them ? Or did anyone really manage anything? They needed lots and lots more caregivers and just maybe it could have survived with what it took to take good care of these beautiful patients.
@@franceslynch8815 I agree; she saw what she wanted to see.
What I want to know is how many are living in misery on the streets as homeless people? A safe place to live should be a right for anyone who can't manage on their own. Now there are group homes, in communities but people get kicked out of those and often end up in the prison system. Fact is, nobody wants to admit that the solution has not been found.
Oh the solution is available it just isn't implemented.
That’s what I was thinking 🤔
It's all about money.
Emaciated and malnourished in a crib but had the best medical care 🧐
The unimaginable suffering so many ppl have had forced upon them by wilfully ignorant or plain abusive individuals is worse than any horror movie out there. Makes one embarrassed to belong to the same species...
DID YOU 🫵🏻 WORK IN ONE?? Let me introduce myself as one of those horrible individuals who did. I just spent my days in direct care, case management making sure the individuals who lived there had all the services they required. I had 24/7 jobs that required me to come to work in snow storms, in the middle of the night as well as clinical services where my department worked with our guys to help them re enter the community on and on. I worked with others who did the same thing. They cared. Did those things happen? Yes they did shamefully. But I suggest you look in the mirror along with the other bleeding hearts. It was society that allowed this. It is better now thankfully. But did you know that people actually died when they closed facilities because they were too frail to tolerate the change in the environment? Yeah while all of the group home providers were celebrating and holding their hand out for state and federal dollars- some people died due to their lack of knowledge or preparation. Today there are those who are doing wonderfully. These people probably should have NEVER been in the facility at all. I’m thankful for that. But there are those kept in group homes that are virtually as segregated as they were in places like Pennhurst either due to severe behavioral or physical challenges. So before you hit the keyboard know what you are talking about. There is still a way to go. This story isn’t over yet
And still happening today
YES! SAD…..
This is absolutely heartbreaking.
I worked in a group home and one of the ladies I cared for spent a substantial portion of her young life in an institution. Due to lack of stimulus, she banged her head against the wall there and became completely blind. She was born with Down Syndrome and because more disabled by living there. When she was rehoused into a group home, she learned sign language but continued to display many institutional behaviors such as rocking.
Years later, I became the mother of a son who has developmental and physical delays. My heart could not hurt more for these people who suffered. I would stop at nothing to make sure my son is treated equally in every facet of his life.
How did she learn sign language if she was blind?
@@nicolegriffin9969 By feeling the hands of the person showing her I would guess. She already knew it when I started. She knew a limited number of signs.
I have a non verbal autistic granddaughter. Special needs people are so special. They have so much unconditional love and compassion. So called people without disabilities can learn so much from special needs. Yes they are a lot of work, but they are Gods special Angels.
🕊💞
Sandra's mother seems to be in a great deal of denial about her daughter's reality. I worked in state institutions for several years. There was nothing idyllic about them. Abuse was common, not necessarily by just staff, but by other residents as well. Overcrowding and underfunding played a role in the abject circumstances of life in these institutions. Rodents and insects fared better there.
I think this was a coping mechanism for the immense guilt she felt
I think it all boiled down to the fact that the mom was embarrassed by her daughter and didn’t want to raise her.
Imagine how many lost opportunities of having good healthy, happy, productive members of society there has been. Give people love, respect and the opportunity to learn and be challenged in a nurturing environment you'll be surprised just how much they surpass your expectations and massively surprise you!!!!
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I have been taking care of my daughter for all of her 25 years. I myself am physically disabled and my husband was in the Marine Corps and deployed all the time. I have never wanted to gave her anywhere but with me. Love turns burden into privilege.
Cynthia, God bless you, your daughter and your husband.❤
What if it's a boy who turns into a grown man who can't walk, tal, dress or toilet himself? You can't lift him. You can't bathe him. What would you do?
I’m already emotional like 10 minutes in as I used to work at a group home for DD adults and fell so in love with those ladies. One had been in an institution as a young girl and had burns and so much trauma. I left the home I worked at and the company changed hands after and the suddenly new company won’t let us see them. For two of my ladies the workers were their only family (old and new). Breaks my heart. Love you CP and JG. Still talk to them on the phone when I’m allowed. We need more person centered care homes that focus on them being in the community and building and keeping connections
If the two you mention do not have guardians, and their phone conversations are restricted, then their basic rights are being violated. The company needs to be turned in to the local IDD authority aka LIDDA. That is something you can do. You can make the call. If you worked for a company providing services, then you should have that number ingrained in your memory.
@kaebmunson - your story reminds me a group home I volunteered at when I was in high school. Around 1980 there was an all women’s group home about 5 miles from where I lived . All of the ladies had Down syndrome. I was 16 or 17 years old at the time. I would visit them at least a couple of times a week. Quite a few of us would play the card game Uno but I never won because they were always playing the draw four card and skip card on me. LOL! One evening we finger painted and I did a house with a chimney. A couple of other ladies painted a house too, but they added trees, clouds, birds, a sun, and much more. All of the ladies in the group home were amazing and smart! I loved them all.
@@theirmom4723 yes my coworkers who stayed until after the transition to the new company have already reported the issues to the authorities (bc they had first hand knowledge of the charges while I left before). There is an open investigation I believe I don’t know if the status. I should have clarified that in my post. I love these women very much and trust the coworkers who are involved implicitly
@@psychedelicpython I love that story so much reminds me of my experiences even the games played. Those ladies were some of my favorite humans ever ❤️
In 1983 I was a manager in a group home with 3 residents from Pennhurst. I visited them there prior to their release and I was horrified at the conditions. Those 3 people were very important to me and myself and my staff gave them the life they deserved.
Excellent documentary. A different perspective from everyone involved. Each person had a unique story.
It's unfortunate that mental institutions were abusive to so many already suffering, and the criteria for being "put" in a mental institution was horribly abused as well.
15 years ago I had two psychotic episodes back to back. I went to two different hospitals. They call them "stress centers". It was a sad and terrifying time in my life. My experience doesn't come close to these people. As I listened to each one tell their stories, I was amazed by their spirits. The human spirit is miraculous. For all of the poor souls who never knew freedom in life, I hope they found it in the after life. Life isn't fair or just - its random and chaotic. If you manage to find a sliver of peace in life, you're better off than most.
So well said, thank you!
they may have all different disabilities however, the most ill was the one looking after them. appalling society to treat them less than human because they were different. Penhurst such a beautiful structure and yet inside this building horrors occurred 24-7
As a child I lived near a 'Mental Home' as it was called then. We were supposed to be scared of the poor souls who wandered around on a Saturday afternoon. I remember being very young and looking into their eyes, and saw desperate loneliness and unhappiness, and even at that age felt very sorry for them but not being allowed to voice that. Poor people, I still remember them now. this was the '50s. I believe many were just depressed or a little intellectually challenged and definitely did not belong in that awful place. Thank God things have moved on since then.
I remember in Texas in the mid 1980s when institutions like Pennhurst were closed. It was done at the behest of the governor (a Democrat - it was a different world then 😅). There wasn't an adequate plan for what to do with all the residents of state institutions. Many who had no family that could take them were simply put on buses and let off in downtown Houston, with no or very little money, no change of clothes, etc. They became the homeless of Houston. There isn't an easy answer to what should be done. There needs to be more money and more thought given to ways people with disabilities can be cared for.
My husband has a relative who has spent his life in one of the remaining institutions in Texas. It's very nice, and he's happy there. Nothing like Pennhurst was. There need to be some places for people who have nowhere else to go and need more help than a group home can give them.
I am from Texas...there is more than one institution still open. Which one are you referring to? Brenham State School is still in operation, Richmond State School, and a few others I can not remember their names. Then you still Austin State Hospital. Getting into these institutions isn't as easy as before the change to Home and Community Based Services. Don't argue with me. I am a Texas mom of 2 receiving HCS. I have over 30 years dealing with the system for individuals with IDD and other Disabilities.
Same thing in Ontario. Closed with promises of alternate supports in the community. Did not happen. Many mentally ill homeless, violent incidences some adults had lived for decades in these facilities, then entire lives destroyed.😢
They put several in a nursing home I worked at. You could tell they had suffered.
The OP did say ONE of the last institutions in Texas. I read it wrong at first too @@theirmom4723
It was President Regan that shut down the institutions. And I am a Republican and think he was a great president but he missed the mark there
Our school had "field trips" there each year. My class went in 1981 (approximately). The person taking our small group around accidentally took us in the room where adults were in cribs. As soon as we were in the room they realized it was a place we were not supposed to be in. They quickly ushered us back out. The absolute worst field trip ever
I have 43 episodes at the Brattleboro Retreat in my 22 years of life. I have been down every tunnel, and seen every floor except T4. I could know that entire campus and building like a blueprint, it lives like that in my mind, almost like it is engraved there. Memories and rooms that will never go away. I am a person with CPTSD and Autism and lived my life institutionalized from the age of 5 to adulthood with few free patches in between. Dark places like this still exist. When I was 16 I was strapped to a restraint chair for mouthing off to our charge nurse, a floor staff argued with her for 20 minutes to get me out of the chair, which she saw from a window, the clear discoloration as the straps were cutting circulation off to my hands and I cried and cried in pain for days after still. These places get away with a lot of things society is blinded to. It is 2024 and it still happens.
As a person who has cognitive impairment, I'm glad these places are shut down.
The first time a resident gave birth people needed to go to jail. The second time it should’ve been closed.
ok, but then what happens to the residents? can't close places without a plan.
@@reneelibby4885they figured out a plan to close it anyway didn't they? They could have closed it then. Babies being put in incinerators? They place should have been leveled.
oh not arguing that. just saying a lot of peo0ple were jus thrown out onto the streets when some places closed and that was a disgrace too@@jenbingham0914
That Dr that said he deliberately gave a very painful injection to the bully was also a professional bully
On one hand, I couldn't believe he would do such a thing. On the other hand, it is not surprising in the least.
I just heard him say thatjfc
And said he forced him onto the bed but quickly retracted that and said he talked him into it. Yeah right, u forced him as you said the first time. I cannot believe he willingly gave that information! A doctor doing that today would be struck off!
Agreed, I couldn't believe what he was saying - then he tried to qualify his words too.
Humans are something else ...
From sarah .I.worked voluntary in a hospital in the 80s ,my foster mum was.a.senior nurse there and was the Head of the ward ,we ended up taking in a resident (his father was the last person to be hung in the uk )who was physically and mentally unable to.care.for him.self I spent alot of time with him and he ended up being able to communicate using a towel and balloon then do art .the difference in him due to one to one support was unbelievable. My brother who had dyslexia and learning difficulties was regarded as educationally subnormal a term used in the 70sand 80s was sent to boarding school till he was 12 .luckily things have changed although there's still alot of ignorance and stigma .my eldest works as an equalities officer for the NHS to make sure that people recieve the proper care for their needs and what they deserve . My eldest has ahad ,social anxiety and dyslexia ,my youngest dyslexia and anxiety .I myself have ptsd and have had mental health issues for 44 yrs plus physical disabilities including in the brain .I've been in mental health units and they are thankfully alot different .
Thank you for sharing your story.
That woman who put her daughter in pennhurst acting like it was a great place just boggles my mind that place was horrendous and the children were treated terribly and her attitude is just unbelievable. Guess she tells herself she did the right thing so she can sleep at night.
My great-aunt caught meningitis when she was 2 and never fully recovered. She would have epileptic seizures after that and her parents couldn't handle it so they put her in Pennhurst where she died at age 7😢
I’d be embarrassed to be interviewed if I had worked there. The fact that they stayed indicated acceptance.
I imagine a good portion of them stayed to try to actually help people, do whatever good they could in a bad place.
I imagine it’s more nuanced than that. they probably wanted to try to make it better for the people where they could.
Your comment is naive.
@@NNM-sc3rj and yours is subjective idiot 🙄. No one asked you. You’re a nobody
So sad but facts ! 😢 I’m proud to say God sent our family amazing little boy that has down syndrome! When I was younger, they used to institutionalize them. I am so proud to say that he is flourishing and he is great. But he’s nonverbal. We know what he wants when he makes the sounds. We know what he’s asking for when he looks at us, all you have to do is look in the soles of a human being, and you will see everything you need to see disabilities even go away. Institutionalize them is the wrong thing love them teach them understand them, and most importantly put them in all the love you have from God.
As a mother of a son with cerebral palsy and cognitive delay, this broke my heart beyond measure. I saw my son in those children and adults trapped in those cribs. I saw my son in that gentleman in the suit that spoke about the abuse he endured. I cant imagine walking away from my child like that mother did. It raisinga child with severe mental and physical disabilities difficult, yes! He is my son first and my love and commitment to him supercedes any of my own comfort. I just dont understand her.
There is so something seriously wrong with that mom. And that nurse who said she was hired without any experience whatsoever and is now saying that they're hiring people without much experience in outside facilities and that's an issue. Like, this is post court documents, they know what was happening, and they're still this level of delusionally gross.
Sandra's mother has to believe Pennhurst was good or the guilt will eat her alive. Very sad for all involved.
This is just heart breaking 💔
I am a mother of 2 boys with cerebral paulsy. Age 4 and 7 BUT i will never put my 2 boys in a place like that. I raise my boys on my own with no help because I am the mother it is my responsibility to love them and to take care of them.Yes I struggle financially alot and I am very tierd when I go to bed at night but atleast I know my boys are safe and I will wake up with them next to me and I will c those 2 beautiful smiles and be able to hug them and kiss them and give them the love they need. Most parents put their children with a disability in a home during the week and weekends just go and visit them why because it is to much work for them to look after their own children and that is a disgrace you made that child so look after that baby.......
Your boys are lucky to have a mother like you ❤
Some people just aren't able to financially afford staying at home with their kids. Some are incapable, some unwilling. I'm not going to judge them because heroism isn't something society should force upon others. Some patients can get violent and dangerous to the point of being unable to stay at home, no matter how loved and cared for they are. This is the reality of some mental conditions.
And help is needed even for the best, most devoted parents.
37:07 the irony of having a physician named Dr. Fear.
I thought the same thing too
I don't understand how we can separate mental illness from physical illness? I mean our brain is part of our physical bodies and not too long ago the so called experts said epilepsy was a mental illness?! And even until the 1960s they did major surgeries on children without anesthesia because they believed kids couldn't feel pain!!?? I wholeheartedly believe some day we will finally figure out that all mental disorders can be diagnosed in the body as a physical disease. Until then we won't make much headway in helping people. Downs syndrome is a great example, it is a physical disorder due to chromosomal configuration and no amount of therapy will cure it but therapy can help emotionally in dealing with it. Just my thoughts. I hope everyone can be compassionate and kind towards others, you never know what others are dealing with and by just being kind it may help.
I had clients from here. Every year there was a picnic reunion. The clients became very agitated at the thought of returning. We never went back. There was an elderly person there with arthritis. They removed all her bones!!! She lay there like a rag. It was horriable just horrible! To bath them they walked what they called the dog walk. They sprayed them down with hoses while they walked in circles. The way these people were treated, criminal.
How horrific
Removed bones? You mean amputation?
What do you mean removed her bones?
No, they did not remove all her bones
Removed all her bones? That’s a ridiculous thing to say.
I worked with folks who were in Willowbrook shortly after the Willowbrook Decree was finalized. I've read dozens of histories of the folks that came from places like Pennhurst going back to the 40s and reading those were horrific.
That poor woman who said she missed Pennhurst! I'd love to know what she misses about it. Also the ones who said that it was a wonderful place, etc. Is are they all delusional or is something else going on there?
They get institutionalised and don’t cope when they have to leave. 😢
Pennhurst was built with the best of intentions. It was a beautiful campus with all sorts of activists for the patients. But the state legislature kept reducing the budget for Pennhurst while at the same time it became more and more overcrowded. There needed to be more places like it, and they needed to be well funded. Instead, it turned into a nightmare. I suspect the people who have good memories of Pennhurst are remembering before it got so bad.
She stated the things that were bad for her, but I think that she missed the community she enjoyed with others like her.
I think at the start Pennhurst was probably a wonderful thing but as things went it on it worsened
Thank you for shining a spotlight
Understaffing is a huge problem in nursing homes as well. Sad
Yep. I work in one and have the most love and admiration for all my elderly residents and believe they deserve the highest level of care and attention. However we are so understaffed it’s irrelevant what I know each resident deserves, they literally do not allow you to give them the time they deserve. But the CEO is a multi millionaire.
Heartbreaking i will never understand how some people can mistreat others.
ANYONE who was weak and couldn't take care of responsibility and dumped these HUMANS there are despicable!
I worked in a hospital for the mentally ill when I was 18. I must say I got great satisfaction working with the patients. I felt so sorry for most of them. I felt some of them should not have been there. For instance a girl gave birth out of wedlock and her family put her there. This was about the 1960’s. Well off family. Money certainly talks. This is in Scotland. Shame on them.
In 1985 i had a very sweet baby boy who had diwn syndrome he had ti be fed through tube and was on oxygen i was told by two old ppl that i should be ashamed to bring that out in public 😞 was so angry told them look the other way if he ofends you so much as your actually offending me to having look at them and listen to their rubbish he was fully autistic to but a happy funny smiling boy just because that was the done thing back in the day does mean your ways were right thNk God for the knowledge and human rights now days if someone wants a baby you take what god blesses you with not throw them iin in a home because they aren't perfect very convenient to place them away and convince your self they looked after when all these kids wanted was their amily 😢
🕊💞
There is currently a bike/walking trail that goes right by the former facility, right next to this is a homeless tent community. Our society closed these “hospitals” but did not find a solution for the people, they were thrown out on the streets, I have no idea which is worse. 😢
Curious when this documentary and the interviews were made. The last of the patients were discharged in the late 1980s; almost 40 years ago. I’m just trying to work out the timeline and ages of the participants in this film. Thank you!
I have worked in care all my life n never would treat anyone like this , n i have seen. Some awlful things . Everyone deserves respect n love xx
I've toured Pennhurst. It's in Pennsylvania. The buildings are standing but in abandoned condition. Not all the buildings are safe to enter. They use the main building for a haunted house in October.
Such fun
I worked in a Nursing home in 1986….with patients that were mentally disabled. It horrified me so much I still have nightmares…how they were treated and the smell of unwashed or cared for people….😢
It’s gotten worse since this was made as far as the private sector doesn’t have enough to take everybody. A small changing. So a blend of group homes and services and small state historians well monitored would actually be good. Most people that I know with disabilities can be in society. But we do need a space for those that cannot. I don’t see the private sector doing much better than the state hospitals. My uncle got taken advantage of by an employee in his group home. She influenced him badly and it created problems at home. And yes, she took money from him. And threatened him. So I really don’t want to hear that group homes are the answer. They do not do any sort of background check at hire beyond the state you are in. I also know somebody hired to provide services to the handicapped that in another state went to prison for drugs, assault, and theft. If the state actually cared and regulated properly including group homes, we would have a really good system.
Minnesota has many regulations and monitoring. Mandatory background checks excludes felons and many more. And yet, "bad apples " occur. Minnesota has stringent annual training requirements for staff. Our blue state, Hubert Humphreys state, still struggles with the legislators to get funding for the community programs each year.
That is not always true. I don't work for a group home (I work in a small locally owned pet store) but my boss owns a group home. She does very stringent background checks on each employee she has. I cannot speak for other group homes, but the residents in her home get better care than most of us out here taking care of ourselves.
@jenbingham0914 problem is, there is very little state oversight and the standards of such homes vary and are not consistent across the board. While your boss may be excellent, many places arent.
I am disabled. I am autistic and have ADHD, and various other diagnosis as a result of the first two. I am a lawyer and can solve complex legal problems and i can convince people to do what i want. However, i will never be able to manage a home. I struggle with daily tasks. I forget i need to eat and wash. I have sensory issues that cause weeks long shut downs. It has taken me a long time to accept that i will need assistance for the rest of my life. But the resources just dont exist
LooK at all of the stuff that came out about homes in Canada , in Ontario in particular. And they were making record profits.they are private businesses. People are,left to rot and the workers have a few minutes per patient. So wtf has changed.
Yes the government needs to properly regulate it. There is no reason to not have places where people can actually get the care and socialization they need.
Heartbreaking the way we were. How did we think a baby, child or person would feel nothing because it had a physical or mental disability. Human minds are callous and cruel. I learned from a very young age that my pets felt everthing I did, yet they had no language, had four legs and a tail.
What happened people that they ceased empathising, the essence of humanity. It's as prevelant today as ever it was. The death penalty is one savage legacy from centuries past kept alive by similar minds that helped make Pennhurst.
Weak people be horrible to other people/animals do it because it makes them feel better about themselves
I will comment that I believe some degree of these institutions are still necessary in our society. What seemed to be happening and is still happening at that time, was that there are some families that do not want to deal with their family members. What is to be done in these situations? We already have massive numbers of cases where there are parents who abuse or mistreat their nueral typical, as well as their delayed children. Someone should not be allowed to commit a child, just because they don't want to deal with them. Still, what is to be done.
I will further comment that when they closed down or rescinded policies for many of these institutions, as well as cutting funding. They also cut funding for just facilities for individuals or communities for individuals with pure Mental Health Diagnosis. I'm referring to individuals that have non-functioning Schizophrenia, amongst other disorders. This is why we have so many people self medicating with drugs and living as the "homeless" on the streets. Some form of institutionalization may still be necessary.
They are needed but the gov needs to make sure they are treated like humanely and have resources. That's it.
God bless their precious innocent hearts.
That one woman who locked her daughter away in an institution and then continuously refuses to acknowledge any of the pain and suffering caused by that institution, despite mountains of evidence clearly laid out by multiple reputable sources and years of research, is exactly the type of person who made the institutionalized abuse of people with disabilities possible in the first place.
Her willful ignorance is despicable and infuriating. Shameful.
Man's inhumanity to man😢😢
Just horrible, how can anybody abandon there children. I know it's not easy speaking of a mother of a child with disability. Breaks my heart
That mother in the beige jacket.. why is she pretending it was daisies and rainbows? "They had what they needed... all the activities.." Stop defending an institution that very clearly thrived in the abuse of humans.
Ohhhh I know!! She is in such “denial”she knows damn well how her daughter was treated
The testimony is sad. So many of the parents interviewed here were definitely in the dark. The testimony you can rely on, is that from the former residents. Only the residents are telling the truth. The one mother, the old grey-haired lady, talking of her disabled daughter, Sandra was completely fooled. How sad. I shudder to think of what really happened to her daughter, Sandra. Clearly, that mother did not have a clue.
It is unbelievable how far parents will go to protect themselves from the truth of their decisions.
Shame on the workers who abused the patients and shame on the ones that didn’t yet, allowed it happen. Shame
On the parents for dropping thier children off instead of caring for them. Shame on the state of PA for understaffing. A horrible tragedy for the patients. There still is not enough services. It’s a disgrace. Shame on these women who are in such denial about the abuses that were ongoing. That lady is rediculous.
35minutes in
I don't know if I can stomach the fact these workers are still free making excuses!
EFFING infuriating!😡
GOD bless these tortured,kind,smiling,AMAZING souls💓🙏
I think what really people need to understand is that despite having intellectual and mental and physical disabilities, the field of mental deficits has come a long way and I think with people also need to realize is that you can't treat something like that.I am really and extremely angry that these people were being treated like human garbage.
So sad, but thank you for this documentary.
Remember this was done with the best intent. However sometimes the wrong individuals work for their own needs. Sadly it hurt a lot of vulnerable people.
And I am so fearful we pur going full circle on this one as the funds dwindle & people forget. Never let them forget.❤
This still happens today. People with disabilities, our elders, dementia patients etc. are neglected and abused. We have not found the proper checks and balances to keep people safe and treated with dignity. If you find a good place chances are you can’t afford it. I do not have an answer. Institutions and health care providers should be held accountable. Our people deserve the best care and protection.
I was working in a group home and saw an LVN and how she treated the clients. I talked the woman in charge and she didn’t listen to me. Things kept happening. I got fired but before I got fired I reported and when I was in the office where they were firing me I told them everything I saw and heard. I truly hope something was done
Too many ppl were sent there that shouldn’t have been. Kids that weren’t wanted and ppl that should have been in prison were sent there. Then the pays were cut to ppl that worked there. It was a bad time for all
I work for a company that keeps those with IDD in their own homes, living their best life. I can't even imagine my patients being treated this way 😢
This is so sad... so many sad stories. All those wasted lives, people who should never have been there in the first place.
We must continue our fight for everyone's human rights - teach everyone to fight for their human rights!
I had the opportunity and pleasure to work with survivors of Pineland Farm...the protective behaviors never went away; but, we made sure to find joy. We've come a long way, but at an incredibly slow pace and so much red tape.
Good journalists are important for a Democracy 😊
I knew a woman who had a brother in Pennhurst, he had downs syndrome. They were a Catholic family with eight kids under the age of 12. He was placed there and they never saw or visited him again. Kid died of pneumonia and another fever. He made it to 16. The family was never the same after. My friend became wild in her teens, diagnosed as bipolar, alcoholic and a pill head. She died of an overdose at age 46. The whole family excepting two sisters were a mess.
Very catholic of them to just dump him like a broken appliance..
This was a great documentary! It was nice to hear about some good times there. I hadn't heard any good stories.
The "checks and balances"
In the mental institutions during this time were grossly misrepresented.
Imagine if the states actually provided adequate funding to mental and disability healthcare for both patients and their carers. But who cares about public services when there are rich people who need tax cuts 🥴
It's just evil to not have good places for people by now.
My sons both have learning disabilities, asd and adhd, I'm so glad these places are closed!!! I'm a single mum to 3 and would probably have been told to send my babies to one of these places back in the day. Not a chance my babies belong with me!!!!
This breaks my heart .Some ppl were just embarrassed by the child or could not be bothered 😢
Why aren't some of the "nurses" and "doctors" on trial???
"System of checks and balances."
😢
Thank you to reporter and lawyers.
Between the abandonment by Narcissistic parents and the Virtue Signalling NPD of Social Services it is a wonder anyone survived....
This history of indifference to our members of family and fellow humans just makes me so sad just breaks my heart and I want to cry 😢. So much indifference, Injustice to someone who just needs more help, love and understanding ❤.
The shame of the way that people were treated like animals is the reason why we don’t have proper facilities for our mentally ill today
The very end of this video, wow it is so touching and right to bring a happy ending ❤.
So much I would like it to be true.
I have a brother with severe autism... we were always urged to put him in a "home" and never never never was that an option... NEVER. i dont judge for people who do utilize group homes or something like that, but my brother cant speak, no way would i put him with people i dont know and him not be able to defend himself or tell me what happened.
My brother was brought home after his diagnosis, and treated and raised with the rest of us. We were told: take him home and make the best of it. We cant do anything for him or you. It wasnt until he was well into adulthood that we were given options for communication.
They got exactly what they needed??? Slop??? She was obviously part of the problem 😔
The old woman standing up for penhurst is just evil. She just didn’t want to lose the money she was making.
There’s a State School were I grew up called Polk Center. It’s also in PA and was totally self-sufficient. It actually just closed last year (2023), but the residents are still staying in one of the buildings with some of the same staff. It’s under a different name now and the residents will be moved into houses (group home) once they’re finished building them.
We had a relative there in the 1970's. We were told we could visit unannounced any time, and we frequently did. ***We went directly to the unit.*** The care for such people was difficult. The staff was wonderful to us and our relative. The physical therapists and physicians worked wonders and our relative achieved milestones not attainable at home. This was not "mental illness" but profound mental retardation from severe early brain damage.we had no complaints.