4,537 Comments for Pennhurst State School

hi does anyone know if it is still hard to get into this place? I am very interested in visiting but come from a far. Please email me and let me know @ madame_smoochez@hotmail.com. Thank you.

Mentally retarded was an accepted term for many years. I'm sorry you find it offensive. Mentally challenged will probably be unacceptable in the future also. Mentally ill does not necessarily mean you are mentally retarded. Why do you not consider that to be offensive as well?

While I would like to believe in the comments of some above posters that the facility in question did its fair share of good, I frankly, have a hard time giving credence to people while they use terms like retard rather then mentally ill or physically impaired. A simple choice of words yet words are the conveyance of meaning.In my mind someone actually trained in caring for others would not so lightly use the term retard.

As someone who grew up with a mentally ill father and has visited care facilities for those so impaired, as well as for the elderly and physically infirm numerous times since child to adult I can personally attest to a general feeling of there being a lack of humanity from those working in such.

Even in supposedly quality facilities like the one my grandmother spent a healthy fortune housing her own grandmother in, where my great great grandma was abused by the employees including having her left wrist crushed by a young orderly grabbing her roughly, or her hip being displaced from being picked up from her wheel chair and thrown in her bed all by a young man I would only describe as your typical all american charming high school girls dream boat.

Abuse indeed happens. And its those least likely to inflict it who are also often blind to it even when its in plain sight.

So while I applaud those who truly have served in such places with good hearts and the desire to help others. Statistically 1 out of every 3 people in general has committed a sexual assault by the standards of decency and civil soceity( this includeds having sex with those too under the influence to make such judgment ie if they cant drive they cant consent to sex) means almost certainly in a place where so many ready made victims await helplessly, predators do come seeking such easy prey.

So I ask those who defend so vehemently how certain are you not of your own actions but those of those who worked with you shoulder to shoulder. Did that one with the quick and easy smile and kind eyes really possess a kind heart? Or where they a guise to fool the foolishly naieve?

flushed I'm not angry at all. I'm truely sorry you had a horrible experience when you were young. I am only trying to imform people that the picture that everyone comments on was not made by retarded children but by the aides that took care of them. It gets old when people refuse to believe it and try and paint some story that is simply not true. I also understand that during a period of time people were admitted to Pennhurst who didn't belong there. Unfortunately you can't go back and change that. However during the time I worked there that wasn't happening. Change did occur and it was for the better. It was not a house of horrors that so many want to believe and cling to that belief no matter what anyone says. I think for myself and alot of other former aides that worked there it's a real insult to be constantly told that we don't know what we're talking about. Anyway I hope you have a better life now and can get on with it . I left Pennhurst behind many, many years ago. It was a unique experience but one that I was glad to be done with.

it not garded

Looks like nazi germany jewish camps bathroom

It's so, so sick to see that helpless children and grown children,(but still mentally children) and some very normal people were abused so badly. Unfortunately , abuse, nasty talk, spankings, yelling, silent abuse, neglect, ignoring, no empathy.it goes on everyday in some form all around us. People choose to ignore it. Please pray for the children and volunteer at group homes if given the chance. Speak up about abuse...

Nosferatu

If you look into the light there is a lady or little girl so please review this picture i am so shocked on what i seen ..

Sorry edit,difficult on tablet

There is probally alot of asbestos dust in and out. They had alot of problems with unattendended individuals eating the paint chips and what was under them. They had to expand the hospital ward at one point because of lead poisoning. Then..history says they corrected the problem. The columns covered in this manner may have been one of the solutions. Cleaning was done by the unpaid inmate. The material covering the columns is a material that is easily cleaned. It is also easy to see where it was not cleaned. IMHO,this was a place of tourcher for so many
people. Many of whom are still living. It is way too soon to turn it macab.A little bad luck, the loss of a parent,poor eye site, too active at the dinner table,It didn't take much to be sentenced to Pennhurst.

No, the living conditions were not hyped up by media. It was a living hell there especially for the low functioning. As a care provider who helped prepare these people to live in group homes I can tell you what these people went through was pure hell year after year after year. I find it very distasteful that anyone would do anything with Pennhurst but burn it down.

The mural reminds me of roal dahl's book magic finger illistrations done by Quentin Blake. A beautiful shot representing diversity! i would love to go there some day and see it for my self, but for the moment this is the next best thing. Motts' passionate photography. This one realy spoke to me AMAZING.

BSmarcia, I have no idea what you are on about. You are clearly very angry. Why? I cannot not imagine.
I was in a Children's protective shelter attached to a hospital where I was tortured and abused in ways that would have made Mengele blush. The intention was to make me retarded so that I could be moved into the ward for disabled children. The intentional denial of affection was used on me in the guise of making me grow up. They would tell each new adult brought into my life for whatever reason some thing that they found acceptable as they would also deny me affection and were often unnecessarily brusque or mean to me as well. All for my own good.

I was trying to help you with perspective about the people who post about their abuse because you seem to be taking it so personally. Apparently that has just made you angrier.

Opacity is for pictures and Motts lets some on here communicate or post stories about themselves and the places in the photos. I've seen people from other places make contact with former friends they hadn't seen since leaving those places. I don't want to get into an argument with you so I'll leave it alone now.
I hope you find peace with your anger about this place and the Adult children who say they were abused there.

Flushed I find it hard to believe you were in an institution for the mentally retarded. I worked among all levels...from mild to profound and never came across anyone with your level of intelligience. Mentally ill and mentally retarded are 2 different things as I'm sure you are aware. I'm not sure what the heck you are trying to say here. I can assure you that there were caring aides that bonded with many of the clients. Took them home, out for day trips. shopping, etc. I feel like you're trying to paint this picture of a bunch of Nurse Rachettes running around and if the aides were more caring and nurturing everyone would miraculously be normal. Or are you saying that all the aides were deprived of proper nurturing and that's why they were abusive? You are also assuming that many of these clients were in better situations in their homes and you couldn't be more wrong. I read the case studies of the clients on every ward I worked. Believe me many had it better at Pennhurst. Love and affection will not make a severly or profoundly person grow more brain cells and become more normal. Maybe that will help out someone who is mentally ill but can't see that making much difference to a profoundly retarded person.