Willowbrook: the Last Great Disgrace - preview

[Saoirseff]

LISTEN UP and listen very carefully-where were the families of these patients as there was no way that they were all wards of the state-WHERE were the supervisors ? --WHERE WERE THE CHARGES AND TRIALS ? laws were broken-

NOW you think it was BETTER to throw everybody out in the streets to the hell of SROs ,more victimization and no supervision ? group homes which are scarce and a difficult to get openings-- ?

BS Occupancy/staff ratios should have been enforced as the end result's obvious.

[plurp7]

i work for ARC in upstate NY... where this entire 28 min film is shown to us while beginning training to show just how this population was treated before people got together to stand to make a fair difference. thank you to all who have stood up for a better life for this community of people. we don't receive fair pay for the work we do, but we DO get to help assist to provide better opportunities than the people in this film ever got.

[clintonearlwalker]

There were many "Kirkbride" asylums in the US, most have closed and abandoned. I visited the former "Weston State Hospital" last summer. Some of the ice picks used for lobotomies are still there. It seems to me a close relative of Bobby Kennedy, seen in this vid had a lobotomy, maybe his sister, Rose Kennedy. There was a movie made about these asylums entitled "The Snake Pit". Dr. Walter Freeman drove around in his "lobotomobile" performing lobotomies. He performed some at Weston.

[superbooks7]

There are nursing homes & rehab centers in our own cities TODAY that have conditions that are being covered up. We need Geraldo Rivera to go into the nursing homes undercover to report what is happening inside. Patients and families are afraid to complain because they know that there are repercussions and that the nursing homes will punish any legitimate complaints against the nursing home. Someone needs to check the nursing homes & rehab centers in our city. There are "some" (few) good one

[trinnie1231]

:'( thats so sad

[trinnie1231]

:'( thats so freking sad!!

[Jaket2000]

Back in the 80s and before I would have been institutionalized for being in Special Ed.

[QueenetBowie]

It's ashame, they were understaffed and underfunded leading to terrible living condiitons....so they went to the other extreem and opened up all the asylums in the country here soon after, now we have a huge mentally ill homeless population

[Miss65boo]

Lack of funding was the biggest problem and still is. Children and especially adults with cognitive impairments are having their programs cut more and more every year because they don't have lobbiest with a lot of pull in Washington. Imagine having $674 in SSI and having to pay Room & Board of $634 (because you can't live on your own), leaving you with just $40 to buy the things you want and need for the month. Not much of a life, is it?

[Ltjigsaw]

this state hospital worst then Pennhurst

[cowgirled811]

@Ltjigsaw Yeah, I never thought it possible, but you're right. I wonder if the victims of this abomination were able to get restitution of any sort like the Pennhurst victims did. Total atrocity.

[CosmicDestroyer99]

Also Letchworth Village was like this also..Pitty it was like this..I'm glad the mentally retarded and disabled are getting proper treatment now

[genestarwindjf80]

First saw this while watching Ghost Adventures 10/28 they show a short clip and show how horrible they take care of these people. been trying to find the full video documentary of this video. It's despicable the way Doctors and nurses take care of them just simply insane and dumb of them.

[venuslock35]

That just broke me heart to see helpless disbled people treated like utter trash. How could ANY mother send their child or send any relative to a place like that?! Watching this video....so many tears. As horrible as it made me feel to just WATCH it, I can only imagine the hell those poor people went thru actually living it. They existed in a living nightmare...so sad & so very criminal!

[rrrevan]

@venuslock35

Have you raised a mentally disabled child?

[snakehips3131]

This wasn't as funny as I thought it would be.

[RidingMad125]

Disgraceful, how anybody could treat children like that is beyond me...

[grouchysmurff]

@RidingMad125 They did the best they could do with the funding they had. Think of that one poor woman working with 100 kids to herself trying to take care of all of them. Parents back then were so horrible and just threw their kids away if they were different, it's not the institutions fault, it's the government's funding and lack of parenting skills.

[audgeyp]

@grouchysmurff yeah, the staff weren't bad people. They just didn't have enough help.

[jb55101]

@grouchysmurff some staff where not the best sorry i lived there some men there got away with having sex with kids is that there best?

[brassbulletblood]

@jb55101 you lived there thats crazy,where you a nurse or a victim?

[80swrestling]

The origin of Cropsey/Andre Rand is like something out of a horror film.An orderly of a mental instition turned psycho killer.....or so we think!

[janeyrevanescence12]

For me, the most haunting part is the wailing sound. There's something about that wail that just ripped me to pieces.

[DeatrusLPs]

FPS Kyle cried at this... I can see why

[SHAOLINISLAND35]

my grandmother worked there from the 60's to 70's and she would actually bring some of those kids home with her due to sadness or feeling bad for them, she knew they were victims but she also needed a paycheck to feed her kids!

[EGMAG]

@SHAOLINISLAND35

I know what you mean. I volunteered 2 weekends and almost took a child home for a visit. I had no income also and could not keep up the pace. I was a understaffed place.

[SiMPLYHaZZaRD]

this almost made me cry

[LisaKee73]

Horrifying. I actually watched this because I saw a clip of it in a horror film called "Cropsey". I only looked to see if it was actually real or just part of the film.

It's more horrible than anything that was in the film. I hope those poor people were given the help they needed :'(

[acehole7]

@LisaKee73 Yeah I can only imagine what it must looked like first hand

[stawberrystarbursts]

@LisaKee73 Cropsey was not horror film it was a documentary...

[jb55101]

if it wasnt for the  docter that gave the key to geraldo and bernard oh knows how long some of us would have stayed there.

[BowleggedBrooklyn]

@jb55101 You were in Willowbrook as a patient?

[karr1111]

This is sad. I wonder what ever happened to those children?

[adamv2]

@karr1111 If you ever saw the cropsy documentary you find out that many became homeless after Willowbrook closed & lived in the woods surrounded the property, because as its put in documentary that was the only place they knew.

[ZTELKLYON]

Great documentary and horrible event. Some people are just evil.

[ackwagl4]

Disturbing.



[KimakaZi47]

@RocketmanRockyMatrix Your an idiot!!! Is it too late to abort you? Ill sign that petition.

[RocketmanRockyMatrix]

@KimakaZi47 I just deleted my last comment. It was dumb of me.

[HeavenlyRealms0910]

Everywhere across this country and many today there are many places like this. States choose not to fund these places as a throw away society, as if a human being is recycled. Yet the self-defeat the oxymoron of it all is that our leaders say they have no funds for many things and places that are sanitary are not being funded instead, many citizens fund what is constructive while world gov funds war and arms trades. Sad and sick to listen to the professional liars..

[alexandradeyl]

its not much better now

[jb55101]

alot kids where there because of what the docters thought they had i stayed there from 1969 to 1980 and all i had was wrong with me i was heard of hearing and learning disability but back then docters called it deaf and dumb having a nomral brain and being in there really can make a person go nuts and have more problems.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@jb55101 I can imagine....*shudders!* So dreadful to think that the way we cared for disabled people was in such a sorry state.

[doobiesmoke15]

Snake Pit?Hell, if a zoo kept their snakes in conditions like Willowbrook they would be closed down by the humane society

[kewlnsimpguy]

this is disgusting

[LRMaylott]

There was one guy who was there 18 years i think.. who was not retarded.. he had Cerebral Palsey.

[Dudekawk]

Why did they bother with the institutions? They might aswell just lined them all up and shot them in the head. The treatment these people have gotten is much worse than death...

[AprilRader12]

I work with individuals that have been removed from these kinds of institutions. I dont think that anything in the world is as sick as the treatment these people recieve. They are still people, and they are capable of learning how to live in everyday society. Anyone who treats these folks like this should be severely punished, because once you get to know them, they are like angels sent from heaven just to see how they will be treated. These people will pay in the end!!

[TheMouseAvenger]

@AprilRader12 Yeah! Right on! *pumps supportive fist in the air*

[ThatGuyWhoDosentcamp]

this is bad

[pika23]

ok...well I have a second hand account of what went on in mental institutions in the 60's. My grandma's sis in law had alzheimer's before people knew what to call it. She was placed in Marlboro psychiatric facility. My grandma said there was like poop on the walls, and people were in giantic high chairs when they got fed. essentially they were treated like adult babies. This sister in law was the recipient of electro shock therapy, and was always strapped down.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@pika23 Oh...my...GOD! O_O That's just bloody dreadful!

[redfighter479]

holy crap. thats horrible....

[pika23]

@redfighter479 oh my god I know!!! I had to stop watching at the naked kids...holy christ on a crutch.

[masterchief790]

I cant find this movie anywhere :(

[Lucason]

Watch cropsey :)

Lots of this and more is in that too (its a documentary)

[JamesTKirkCobain]

Don't forget, this is when NYC was also completely broke because of the unions constantly holding the city hostage under Lindsay. They were constantly on strike, every union in existence.. tranist workers, sanitation, teachers, even bridge drawers who left bridges in up positions..Beame spent his whole term trying to ward off bankruptcy as a result of that. Everything was cut, all city services so some fat bastard sitting on his ass driving a train could retire at 40 with 80% pay

[Kingcire72x]

I am again mooved to the core.

I am an Assistant Developmental Therapist from Brooklyn D center

They all are capable of much more then we the so called normal give them credit for

They are my extended family so I will defend them and help them as much as I can

[MikeFranchise]

I work with some of the people who were in this childrens ward and are adults now. They have good lives now and plenty of money from the state.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@MikeFranchise Oh, that's good to know. :)

[returnoftheramble3]

everytime they do that they end up forcing regular people into that system. We'll have similar qualities due to neglect and abuse. They don't understand that they really don't understand. Kennedy had his ordinary daughter put through a lobotomy that made her retarded.

[WowThatzAwesome]

terrible

[AllAboutUs6]

i actually live right buy "willowbrook hospital". Its a college now. This is what got geraldo famous

[watchensee]

@AllAboutUs6 The building is still used?

[ChunkiieeMunkiiee]

@watchensee it may become the dorms for CSI (college of staten island)

[SYNfulfoREVer]

I have personally worked with some of these individuals since they have left Willowbrook and it is amazing how far they have come. Granted we will never be able to fully repair what has happened to them but I hope that people can rest easier knowing that they are now being treated the way they have always deserved to be treated, like human beings. They really are extraordinary and as you help them and get to know them you begin to love them and feel as if they are a part of your own family .

[TheMouseAvenger]

@SYNfulfoREVer Right-o! :D

[jkoff76]

Unfortunately, it took another searing documentary Cropsey; the story of a Andre Rand to tell me the demonic legend of Willowbrook. How ironic is that a man who was once employed at this Eugenics Concentratiion Camp, is himself driven to psychosis and homicide of other disabled children in SI.

It is sad but every state has the ruins of a Willowbrook, a dump where disabled human beings are as refuse. But now we use terms like assisted living and special needs to say, 'you have no voice!!!!'

[joeyhol75]

@jkoff76 so true, i live in south east massachusetts and not far from me is an old state hospital called erikson biographical institue thats been closed down and in ruins for decades. at the turn of the century it was used for the "study" of mentally disabled people. the place is so vile and nasty that speilburg filmed part of "schindlers list" there. there were hardly any props needed to make the place look like auschwitz for the movie.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@joeyhol75 OMG, really?! I had no idea!!!

[metrolady72]

anyone where i could find this documentary? i search on netflix but couldn't find it there.

[STFFestival]

@metrolady72 streaming, download and DVD available at: sproutflix site - the url is noted in the film description

[inimical420]

@metrolady72 Maybe not this one specifically but you can type in "unforgotten" and thats about willowbrook, and quiet good imo.

[littlemet1798]

the film Cropsey tells a lot about this story i live in staten island and a lot of ppl wen they hear s.i they think guidos snooki fist pump it just annoys me there r serious problems with our borough (the forgotten borough)

[Flowr71]

As These beautiful people are God's precious children we as human beings, have to ask how do we not know wrong from right.. Everyone has life in them.. As all of these people do.. I don't know how this became a debate on party lines? I can say as I work with many people who are like these guys, it saddens me that there is still a question of if they can learn or not... Look into one's eyes and see God is shining through them and He loves them... I love them they are so special.. all heart

[RoyalOakDude]

Things only got worse under Ronald Reagan as he cut funding for state hospitals that served the mentally disabled. Many people were simply tossed on the streets.

I continue to be mystified why Republicans have such a hard on for Ronald Reagan. 

[XoGothicGirloX]

People think staten island is quiet and innocent but no one knows what happens behind close doors!

[kipptumor]

As horrifying as the treatment of these people was, I am certain that Republicans would have REALLY tossed them under the bus.

[CampbellScot]

@kipptumor what an asinine thing to say. Republicans would have looked away from this? Really. I don't think so. I don't think any human being could look at this and think it's okay.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@CampbellScot I'm with you!

[whip94]

@kipptumor

leave it to a democrat to bring up party lines where there aren't any. wtf does this have to do with republicans or democrats?

[chnce4chnge]

I work with developmentally disabled (formally mentally retarded) people and this just disgusts me. Period.

[22spitterandjacoby]

anyone work with rand?

[TheSwords99]

Bobby Kennedy was a wonderful advocate for the disabled due to his having mentally disabled sister. He was asked to investigate the Newark State School in New York where there were allegations of abuse. He had the school shut down.

[LIMom71]

hearbreaking realities of what happens to God's children when parents opt to give up instead of JUST loving them. I blame the parents as much as those who neglected these children. : ~ (

[jb55101]

@LIMom71 you can blame the docters for for giving fals staments to the parents i was sent there when i was 3 and only thing that was wrong with me was i was heard of hearing. but not what the docters told my mom. spent 10 years in that hell hole and i got beat but nothing happins to the staff that was doing it?

[pebbles31inny]

I worked as an aide in a group home and one of the residents in the group home came from willowbrook....god I can't even tell you....the self abuse she did to herself (due to being abused) her teeth were flat(they filed them in willowbrook) the scars on her body...it was truely mortifying....thanks to Geraldo Rivera for doing that well over due story.....I just happened to come on here because I am watching this new program called cropsey and they mention Willowbrook.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@pebbles31inny What a coincidence--I saw them play that movie today!

[gleecrip]

Don't just cry and don't just say sad.  Do something as this sort of thing still does go on and it does on in small group homes of 5 people. It's about cheap governments and sadistic opportunistic individuals. It is also about people that just cry and say sad but do nothing else. And I don't mean charity I mean action and loud voices.

[ckthmpson]

Remember going to Willowbrook as a kid with my Mom (this was in the early 1970's) . My mom worked there for a few years, and it was exactly how it is displayed in this clip. The stench is something I'll never forget. And as a kid, I remember my mom shuffling us out when some of the other workers there started to make gestures my mom didn't want us hearing or seeing. Years later, my mom told me that many of the residents at the facility were sexually abused by the staff. How sick and disgusting.

[shimmydabullhead]

@ckthmpson i cant beleive u where there before wtf man i know that was crazy i look at this video and get the creeps i feel so bad for those kids thats fuked really fuked!!!!!!!!!!!! i got hold of this video becuz i was researchn cropsey but i had no idea this is wut i was gonna see wtf again and again smh

[TheMouseAvenger]

@ckthmpson I know... :-( Absolutely dreadful!

[PygmyPhallus]

Watching the videos taken inside Willowbrook is like watching a horror movie only the monsters aren't the "crazy" people.

[Flowr71]

@PygmyPhallus These guys were not CRAZY, They were persons who have developmental disabilities.........

[iPwNNerdz]

this still goes on, i worked for DDI in New york and they hit the people there and if they act out they throw away their food

[tippster00]

It is sad to think that institutions still exist in our country. There are only two states in the US that do not have institutions where. Society treats people with IDD like second class citizens. You must change this. Only individuals can make this change. Think about how you react to someone with a disability in public. Do you stare, are you afraid to say hello, are you condescending? If you are then you are part of the problem.

[daelitesmom]

i've worked with adults who were institutionalized at Willowbrook.. what people don't understand is that the treatment these people received affect them all through there lives. one of my greatest teachers of humanity and compassion is portrayed in the video..

[robcypher]

damn! geraldo actually produced a good journalistic piece. wtf happened to him?

[ncpapi2007]

@robcypher money happened to him. 

[TheMouseAvenger]

@robcypher Yeah, I do wonder...

[XxBloodyCrumpet23xX]

my goodness...

[bkchrome]

Wow! I personally recognized at least three clients in this video who I took care of when I was a Therapy Aide in Brooklyn.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@bkchrome My goodness...

[CaptJBean]

My husband was the audio guy on this documentary. He said the first thing you noticed was the terrible stench of urine and feces.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@CaptJBean OMG, your husband was really the audio guy? Wow...

[NotARoman1]

I work in a state facility, called an IRA, individual residential alternative. A home where 12 individuals live. I love them all, and consider it a privelege to care for them. If you take the time to get to know them, whether they can talk or not, they communicate in so many other ways. the system still needs changes, however.

[poppa108]

sad ):

[namidaame]

Anyone who works for the agencies created after Willowbrook all watch the full video during orientation. It's comforting to know that I work in a residential facility that is more of a home than an "institution". Improvement thanks to hard work.

[GreenBeardsRevenge]

Except those who work at what once WAS Willowbrook.

Not even mention of it.

The ghosts of that horror remain in the twisted ideals of those running it. They waste millions in "diversity" training classes while the Houses don't even have toilet paper.

Nice!

[TheMouseAvenger]

@namidaame Indeed. :-)

[ROSA6429]

sad, it is not right.

[Kglover485]

hey uh my mom told me about this place and how rivera did news on it well she told me he did undercover reporting and was chased away when he was discoverd is that true or was that from something else geraldo did?

[donaghec]

I'm glad we're doing better nowadays. It breaks my heart to think about ANYONE being treated this bad.

[TheMouseAvenger]

@donaghec Absolutely! *nods head in agreement*

[oHelmslyo]

Amazing how Geraldo went from doing this brilliant expose to attempting to expose Al Capone's alleged "treasure", and perpetuating myths & rumors on his talk show in the late 80s. Great news reporter gone bad, I say. He should keep on fighting against these moronic institutions like back in the glory days instead of talking about "satanic ritual abuse". Yeah, satanic ritual abuse, a real epidemic...

[TheMouseAvenger]

@oHelmslyo Now, now, that's not very fair... :-(

[kissdisbiitch]

i can't believe this is what my school (college of staten island) used to be !

[AspieWorld]

So sad, this is the way intelligent people treat the less able. How can this ever be right! This isn't a civilised way to look after special kids or adults. Thank goodness this doesn't go on now.

[STFFestival]

Unfortunately it does still go on. View Forgotten People , another film listed under STFFestival.

[daveisradicle]

@STFFestival

The sad truth is that in today's economy Willowbrook's will be sprouting up all over the place due to draconian budget cuts. California's and other State budget cuts calls for a cut to the disabled/elderly forcing them into institutions that are over-crowding, however it it finding the funding to add to it's budget for criminals. There is something wrong in the world today! Criminals have more rights and resources than a disabled child or an aging parent.

[Hikarihimitsu]

@AspieWorld umm.... it still does... very much so...

[ArlenNess2]

@AspieWorld you mean u hope it doesn't happen now...

[Runorata]

@AspieWorld You're being ignorant if you don't think such things don't go on today.

[goodshit732]

@AspieWorld Think again. last week in the ny times was a long form story describing the travesties taking place in group homes in new york

[poteet1987]

make me cry