People With Disabilities, Willowbrook, and Trauma
Abuse and trauma among people with disabilities is something that I have deal with for seven years I have been in the Human Services field. People with all types of disabilities are considered a vulnerable population, especially those who have limited intellectual capacity. History is wrought with stories of abuses against individuals who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thankfully, there are now laws and agencies in place to offer protection from abuse and neglect. However, the trauma of the past is still apparent in many of the individuals who have survived.
Prior to about 1800, people with disabilities were seen as problematic. Individuals were cast away from their families, locked away in prisons or sanitariums, or completely ignored by general society because of their differences. It was not until the 19th century that disabilities began to be studied and people began to take notice of the issues surrounding the treatment of the disabled. Institutionalism became increasingly popular and remained so until the 1970s. Willowbrook State School on Staten Island was one of these institutions that housed developmentally disabled children and became one of the major reasons for the institutionalization overhaul in the United States. Geraldo Rivera headed an exposé into the horrific living conditions of the 5000 children in Willowbrook (Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, n.d.). The severity of abuse and neglect in the institution was so awful that it prompted investigations into other institutions. The disabled children were kept in cribs constantly or housed in a single open area with no privacy. They were naked and sitting in their own excrement. To make matters worse, they were the subjects of state-sanctioned experiments that included feeding the children live hepatitis viruses. The effects of the abusive and neglectful treatment made already vulnerable and fragile individuals regress even farther into their disabilities, while others did not survive their time at the school. Those exposed to the despicable living conditions have had to overcome speech and language issues, behavioral issues, as well as serious medical implications from contracting hepatitis (Geraldo Rivera, 2017). The exposé by Rivera was only done in 1972, and many of the individuals from Willowbrook are still alive and living throughout New York State and other parts of the country (Office for People With Developmental Disabilities, n.d.).
One of the best achievements that came out of the tragedy of the institutions was the enactment of legislation to protect individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. In particular, the Developmental Disabilities Act of 1963, The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975, and the Civil Rights of the Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980 (The ARC, n.d.). One of the most recent protections put into place in New York State was the establishment of the NYS Justice Center in 2012. The NYJS is designed “to protect the health, safety, and welfare of vulnerable New Yorkers.” (The New York State Senate, 2015). Special accommodations are also made for the survivors of Willowbrook, including intensive case management. This case management has much stricter guidelines for monitoring and protecting the Willowbrook individuals than non-Willowbrook. These guidelines were put into place to help ease some of the effects of the trauma that the individuals were exposed to.
Protecting the rights and lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is an ongoing process and the programs that serve these individuals are ever-changing to reduce the risk of abuse and neglect. Trauma can impact those with disabilities in different ways than people without disabilities and it is important to ensure that they have the necessary supports to both address trauma and to prevent it from happening as much as possible.
Office for People With Developmental Disabilities. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22, 2017, from https://opwdd.ny.gov/
Geraldo Rivera. (2017), From Geraldo’s book, Willowbrook: A Report On How It Is And Why It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way. Retrieved April 22, 2017, from http://geraldo.com/folio/willowbrook
The ARC. (n.d.). Public Policy and Legal Advocacy. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from http://www.thearc.org/what-we-do/public-policy/know-your-rights/federal-laws
The New York State Senate. (2015, October 05). Senate Passes Legislation to Protect People With Special Needs and Disabilities From Abuse and Neglect. Retrieved April 24, 2017, from https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senate-passes-legislation-protect-people-special-needs-and-disabilities