3,181 Comments Posted by Lynne

Good point, Mandie. It's interesting that so many people are upset about what happened in these places in the past (as they should be) but you don't see the same fervor to get folks with handicaps included in the mainstream today. It has only been in the past few years that you could see someone with a handicap of any sort included in advertisements (even something as simple as someone sitting in a wheelchair), and that is still quite rare. I would feel better about people's indignation about the "old days" if I knew that today they were involved in volunteer activities with folks with disabilities, that they made sure that people with disabilities were welcome in their communities, and that they made sure that children with disabilities of any sort were never ridiculed or left out in their schools.

It's good to point out how bad things used to be, but the pointing needs to include another hand *in the present* reaching out to include these folks.

[Ack! Sorry! This must be my "moral indignation" day! I need to jump down off my soapbox before someone pushes me off real hard! ]

The mirror shape is nice - that's true - but what does everyone think about that swell old light over the sink?
[Grinning and running]

If you have large people who don't have control of their bodies and who do not understand the concept of danger, there is great potential for them falling out of bed and getting injured. When they are in bed you need some sort of barrier to prevent them from falling out.

If, like most institutions, you had little money, you had several choices. You could strap them in so they wouldn't fall out (restraint! Eeeks!), you could lay everyone on the floor on mattresses so when they rolled over they wouldn't have far to go (how callous! How barbaric!), you could make wooden sides for the beds (but then the person in the bed couldn't see anything but the ceiling), or you could go for a large crib which at least offered some way of seeing what went on. I think there would have been equal criticisms had they chosen ANY of these options.

Again, it's easy to be critical of the situation if you aren't aware of the cultural views at the time. People with handicaps were sent away because they were considered "incurable," families were strongly encouraged to leave them behind, the state received very small amounts of money for their care, and the staff were paid outrageously low salaries and were generally treated like grunts. If it wasn't for the group of underpaid but dedicated and caring staff who kept these folks alive, even if they had to fight management and other staff who didn't feel likewise, many of these folks wouldn't be alive today (and there are MANY people still alive today who lived in institutions when they were at their most crowded peaks in the 60s and 70s). There were also courageous families who stood up for their loved ones in these places and fought for more money for better care and for money for community placements because they didn't receive any government assistance if they tried to keep their loved ones at home.

And just try to care at home for a large person with a severe to profound handicapping condition without support from others, and do it day after day after week after month after year. And don't get too comfortable and try to sleep through the night because your loved one DOESN'T understand danger and something terrible could happen if your attention wandered or you slept too soundly. This was not a black and white "institutions = bad, staff = bad, families = bad," but a mixture of what was believed at the time.

I challenge anyone who is critical of what happened back then to have been part of the culture at the time to have acted much differently, especially with the lack of support they would have gotten. This is NOT a defense of how things used to be - they were atrocious - but this IS an attempt to educate people on why it happened so that it doesn't happen again. The budget is getting tighter and institutional budgets are getting squeezed, as are the budgets for community and home programs for folks with disabilities.

I hope all of you who have expressed concern about what you have seen on Motts' site are contacting your local and state governments and asking for increased funding for people with disabilities. Otherwise saying "tut tut" and being outraged about what happened in the past - while ignoring that it is funding that prevents this from happening today in your very own community - means you are also turning a blind eye and are part of the problem.

[OK - sorry - jumping back down off soapbox again.]

Accessibility. If a building didn't have ramps everywhere (and most didn't) you would need one of these to carry someone up or down steps. These would be needed if someone actually died or if they were just injured and couldn't walk. It is a dangerous journey to carry someone on a regular stretcher up or down steps, and if their body doesn't fit the dimensions of a regular stretcher the trip becomes even more potentially hazardous.

Wowza! This is great!

Oh, I love this shot!

Great perspective!

Did you get caught in the storm?

I'm thinking that was a nursing uniform and it was a mini-dress.

Another great shot.

Great colors.

Absolutely perfect - nice atmosphere! I REALLY like this one!

Oh geez, this is a super shot!

I really like this shot - great character.

Great shot - colors are superb, perspective is great, texture is marvelous!