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If the test of a civilization is how it treats its weakest citizens, then I'd have to say one of the great human rights crimes of the 20th century was Reagan's de-institutionalization of the mentally ill. A nurse once explained it to me simply: in 1981, Saint Elizabeth's in D.C. had 27,000 patients. By 1986, there were 3,000.
Reagan single-handedly created the homeless, who are not better off than they were at St. E's, and the privatized, physically-, mentally-, and sexually- abusive, profit-making hellholes known as group homes. The journalist Katherine Boo won the 2000 Pulitzer for her electrifying series on abuses there in D.C., ending with a mentally and physically handicapped young man singing in his wheelchair:
One of his housemates bangs his head mutely. Another howls and pounds in need or anger. Two aides silently intervene. And Robert freezes, orange jello trembling on his spoon.
O beautiful, for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain. . . .
Urgently, exquisitely, Robert tries to do what his city hasn't done for him. He comforts himself. He sings, until the heads hitting drywall overwhelm.
-- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/march99/grouphome15_full.htm
Now comes a brave NYC judge -- as the result of litigation brought on behalf of the mentally ill by Disability Advocates -- who has ruled that New Yorkers who dwell in group homes are being deprived of their rights and care.
God bless you, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.
I'd like to point out that the success of litigation, or Pulitzer-prize-winning publicity, has taken the place of effective policing -- how many times did they visit the compound where Jaycee Dugard was held captive for 18 years -- and the scandalous lack of oversight by the SEC of Madoff and the entire market system. The basic social contract I believe in is, I pay taxes, you protect me. Reagan broke that compact and it's not only Robert who is paying the price.
( NYC Mentally Ill Unlawfully Warehoused in Group Homes )
Reagan single-handedly created the homeless, who are not better off than they were at St. E's, and the privatized, physically-, mentally-, and sexually- abusive, profit-making hellholes known as group homes. The journalist Katherine Boo won the 2000 Pulitzer for her electrifying series on abuses there in D.C., ending with a mentally and physically handicapped young man singing in his wheelchair:
One of his housemates bangs his head mutely. Another howls and pounds in need or anger. Two aides silently intervene. And Robert freezes, orange jello trembling on his spoon.
O beautiful, for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain. . . .
Urgently, exquisitely, Robert tries to do what his city hasn't done for him. He comforts himself. He sings, until the heads hitting drywall overwhelm.
-- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/march99/grouphome15_full.htm
Now comes a brave NYC judge -- as the result of litigation brought on behalf of the mentally ill by Disability Advocates -- who has ruled that New Yorkers who dwell in group homes are being deprived of their rights and care.
God bless you, Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis.
I'd like to point out that the success of litigation, or Pulitzer-prize-winning publicity, has taken the place of effective policing -- how many times did they visit the compound where Jaycee Dugard was held captive for 18 years -- and the scandalous lack of oversight by the SEC of Madoff and the entire market system. The basic social contract I believe in is, I pay taxes, you protect me. Reagan broke that compact and it's not only Robert who is paying the price.
( NYC Mentally Ill Unlawfully Warehoused in Group Homes )
