Comments

Can you spot the SC tag? :D

I agree with LilMissSpelunker, it looks stupid

in regard to babies at institutions...yes, some children were admitted very early in life (I am speaking in general terms, not specifically about Pennhurst). Sometimes when a clearly disabled baby was born, the doctor advised the parents to not get attached, to "put the baby in a home," and have another (hopefully normal) child. Sometimes the parents already had several older children, or had another child or two in quick succession after the disabled child, and felt that they could not provide for all their children, and that the disabled child would be better off at the state school where he would get "special" education and training (this is when there was no special education in public schools for severely delayed children and no community support services to help families keep their children at home).
Also, many developmentally delayed children are very small for their chronological age as a result of the syndrome that caused their disability. Some children the size of an average three year old may be seven or eight years old...so they might have been considered "babies" for a long time.
One of the things my work with adults who grew up in institutions taught me is that the real miracle is that so many babies are normal. Just one tiny defect on one microscopic part of one chromosome can change the person's entire life, yet the vast majority of the time, everything goes right.

when i saw this the only thing that popped in my head was forrest gump.

I know of cases where, as part of a consent decree in a class-action suit brought on behalf of patients at institutions like Pennhurst, certain sections of buildings (or entire buildings) were so far out of compliance with standards for active treatment and patient care that they were ordered permanently closed. Because of the deficiencies, any services that did take place in such areas could not/would not be paid for by Medicaid, which was the funding source for most patients. In some cases it would have cost too much to renovate the area to bring it into compliance, in other cases it was concluded that no matter what was done, the area could not be brought into compliance, and it was sealed off to ensure that no one had access to it.

Thanks again Motts for a womderful Gallery. Can't wait to see more. Motts Be VERY VERY SAFE. Thanks again Motts. Wonderful Gallery and Awsome Site to see.

Wow, how awesome is that! This is such a wonderful photograph. I should check this place out sometime! -Lives in NY-

That looks like it's going down into a basement or something. Is it?

Haha, my god. That looks EXACTLY like a couch we use to have in our house. How strange..

thanks motts, can't wait to see more! Be safe!! Drinks lots of BEER

wow i can't even imagine what i'd feel walking into a room like that

I understand that most would not want to relive these memories. I know personally, if I had been there I probably wouldn't want to either.

I think though, the voices of the people who have been there need to be heard. Stories need to be told. People need to know about what happened there. The good and the bad before no one knows ANYTHING and this just becomes nothing. I think even if one person cared about what happened in this place it'd make a difference-somehow.

Wounds like this can not be healed-but talking about such things could be of help.

ok seriously...another pi`ture that reminds me of something i've seen before...it's really creepy b/c when i saw something similar to ths, the blanket was hanging off the bed the same wat this is.

ok...this picture too reminds me of something...i think they're trying to tell me something

hah i made a fake book cover out of this picture...its called the lonely chair