Historical Background
*The following dates and information were selected from All About Developmental Disabillites’ website (www.aadd.org). Several of these timeline points are about things that happened in Georgia and others are about federal changes. It is important to know that AADD has worked to improve the conditions and tragedies in the following timeline; however, this blog post is focused on sharing the injustices that our history holds. Please check out AADD’s website to see many details of how they have been strong advocates for individuals with disabilities.
1950s: Sterilization, Segregation, and Institutionalization are the Norm. Children and adults with developmental disabilities are considered "mentally deficient" and shipped off to Gracewood State Hospital, Gracewood School for Mental Defectives, or the Georgia State Hospital for the Insane at Milledgeville. Hour after hour they sit on long benches or lie on the floor. They sleep in long wards, their beds inches apart. Sometimes they are isolated, shackled, or are test subjects in medical experiments.
1959: As the decade ends, state institutions remain overcrowded, understaffed, and under-funded. Georgia's three institutions warehouse 2,200 "patients" with developmental disabilities, yet statewide there are only 11 educational classes for people with mental retardation.
1960s: "I had no idea it would be that bad." -Comment by Milledgeville tour participant (The Atlanta Journal, June 8, 1960). A woman buries her head in her hands and weeps during a tour of the State Hospital at Milledgeville, unable to believe the conditions her fellow Georgians are forced to endure. Meanwhile, Augusta's Gracewood facility houses 1,700 people with mental retardation. These Georgians are tended by state employees, many poorly trained, who work 72-hour weeks.
1964: Seven-month Study Reveals Horrible Conditions at Milledgeville State Hospital Overcrowded conditions - 18,000 patients with mental illness or developmental disabilities - inadequate staff, and lack of treatment and educational therapy for people with mental retardation top the list of urgent problems. Gracewood now has 1,848 patients. With no community-based services available for their children, 1,615 families put their names on the waiting list to place their loved ones in institutions.
A Major Victory for Exceptional Children Intense lobbying by AADD results in passage of the Mandatory Education Bill for Exceptional Children by the Georgia General Assembly. The law requires every county to provide education for all exceptional children by 1976. Although 435 teachers are requested, the state appropriates enough money for only 150 teachers.
1971: ". . . it's like a prisoner of war camp." -A Georgia legislator, after touring Milledgeville. "The Stench at Milledgeville," an article in The Atlanta Journal , reveals that for most, conditions have not improved. Even after more than ten years of negative press on conditions at Georgia institutions, fifty-seven women with mental retardation are warehoused in a single room with supervision by only one attendant. There are no programs, no therapy, no attempts at education.
1974/75: Federal law bans sterilization and lobotomies. In response to Federal law, Georgia stops sterilizing and performing lobotomies on persons with developmental disabilities.
2003: Ninety percent are abused. Of all persons with developmental disabilities, an estimated 90 percent will be victims of sexual abuse, violence, and economic abuse. Women Against Violence (WAV) is one of a handful of programs in the country providing a forum for abused women with developmental disabilities. At weekly meetings the women discuss, process, and move past the abuse they have experienced, going on to help staff and other professionals learn how to support others who have been abused.
Some additional brief info on nation-wide history:
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975: required public schools to provide free and appropriate public education
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990: “The Nation’s proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure
Equality of opportunity
Full participation
Independent living, and
Economic self-sufficiency.” (Eiesland 19)
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Their story must be told.
“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death light has dawned.” Matthew 4:16 & Isaiah 9:2
Christin,
ReplyDeleteThis is a powerful timeline. You think of some of these practices during the holocaust in Germany, thus even earlier than your timeline begins. But it becomes more powerful to think of people here in Georgia experiencing the same type of oppression.
I wonder about the period between the 1970s and now when many more people with mental illness have been released from these hospitals. What type of help do they receive?