1,476 Comments for Letchworth Village

Only if they were a sick SOB.

I have had many a client who was nonverbal who had hidden abscesses, etc., who would engage in severe aggression or self-injurious behavior because they couldn't communicate their pain or show you where it hurt.

Having had a root canal myself 6 months ago and going through some of the most exquisite pain I have ever been through while waiting the l--o--n--g weekend to get to the dentist, I know how bad this can be.

Every dentist I have ever met who works with folks with handicapping conditions does their best to get them in and out ASAP, because most of these folks don't understand why their mouth hurts or why some stranger is sticking their hands and large sharp pieces of metal in their mouth.

Since you have to have assistants when you do dental work, if you did something wonky there would usually or always be witnesses. I am having a hard time envisioning a mad dentist out to wreak terror in the mouths of these folks.

Now, were there (and are there) many dentists who do not understand the health care issues associated with handicapping conditions? Yes, most decidedly so. We have a hell of a time getting dentists to work with our folks. It's hard enough to get you and me (or even ~Me) to a dentist - we all act like idiots and try to hurt the nice dentist, don't we? And we have some vague cognitive glimmer of why they are doing what they do. If you don't have the ability to understand what is going on, either because of a mental illness or a learning disability, you aren't the most cooperative participant in the dental process. If I were a dentist I would think twice (and then 7 more times) about working with either of these groups. However, I am MORE than thankful for those hardy souls who do this work. It is one of the hardest services to get in the community, as people aren't running out to volunteer in droves.

Unless I am misunderstanding your comment.

Hello, darlin'. I didn't mean you specifically. Institutionalization is such a hot-button topic these days that for anyone to talk about it "in public" means they are going to be skewered, whichever side of the issue they take.

I was researching and I found out that in some cases things like teeth back then could be come of the causes to drive a person insaine( of course we know this is false). I know they more likely would have a dentists office or equipment because even mentaly ill people need cleanings and ect., but sometimes i wonder if they were painfully pulling teeth in their dentist chairs for no reason, other than to try to cure their mental issues

I'm sorry, but I wasn't intending to be political, I only ask because I am writting a fiction story with an asylum and I'm doing alot of research for it, I saw this site and looking at Letchworth inspired me to write it, so any and all tid bits of patient stories or info is well accepted :-)

Kinda reminds me of Resident Evil, lol

The short answer is that there are fewer and fewer people in non-geriatric long-term residential care facilities.

How's THAT for the shortest answer I have ever given here to a potentially political question? :-) :-) :-) :-)

I wonder if people are still institutionalized for large periods of time anymore, or if they are all done by out patient or half way homes. I have heard that some of the old kirkbride asylums are still functioning.

Brilliant! I love it.

I had the pleasure of going to an abandoned apple juice factory and I put it on my site, I caould not resist naming it the Mott's Apple factory.
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It really is sad. i work in a mental health facility and some of our clients stayed here for a long time. one was actually here from the time he was three until he was in his forties. His mother who was mentally ill was admitted after police found her and almost frozen to death in an alley. Rather then take the time to find shelter for him in an orphanige they kept him here. even after his mother died. i can't imagine a lonley way to grow up...and i often wonder if the surroundings he lived in for so long so ignored is the reason why he needs to be seen where i work...

this picture looks very desolate, like from a time long forgotten. It's rather sad the treatment that many recieved in these places over the years, only to be burried as a number is a forgotten grave plot, i've read that many families actually left their unwanted loved ones in places to rot. great picture, it really captures the mood

I guess that could be one of the reasons why these places sometimes have fires, along with all of the papers and flamable items left behind

What exactly are those yellow things? Things that have been dumped?

Sometimes, walls just look empty. Had to make it feel not so lonely, right?

Talk about your own little city.

Oh my god, I know hwich building that is....Great picture....I go to the school that was opened on the property.