Geraldo Rivera - The P&A System

The Protection and Advocacy concept was initially triggered by a series of local television news broadcasts, which Geraldo Rivera did for the ABC News affiliate in New York City. Rivera's investigative reporting exposed abuse, neglect and lack of programming at Willowbrook, a state institution for people with mental retardation on Staten Island. These broadcasts lead to the development of the P&A Systems in 1975.

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[EyeinTeaJay]

An amazing and sad story. Bernard, at 21, though physically showing some signs of being different, his mond was sharp and anyone could see that he understood more than what anyone at Willowbrook wanted him to. I'm glad to see that Bernard has been able to at least physically escape from Willowbrook, though I doubt that he could ever forget the conditions he lived in while there.

[Katzykeens]

:D Yay Bernard! <3

D: Poor guy, it looks like it hurts for him to speak.

But at least he's doing well for himself :3

[johnny10301968]

YOU GO BERNARD!!! Had Geraldo not brought the disgrace of Willowbrook to light no telling what may have happened to Bernard.

[Roisia]

@jlabrecque1 "just saying that they are far from Nazi death camps"

They tested on the children, just so you know. Children lived in their own filth. They were abandoned there by their families because services weren't available, and yes children did die in those conditions because of Hepatitis.

[isarose1]

ugh cerebral palsy does effect the brain

[SelahSpirit]

jlabrecque1, apparently you are not familiar with the Olmstead Act, 1999. A Supreme court decision resulting from a 1995 law suit in Georgia on behalf of 2 women who were wrongly and continuously institutionalized (locked away and "charged" with mental illness) for MANY years. This occured in 1995!! The medical staff said they were ok to live on their own. But the facility would not release them to decent housing.

[fleurdubijou]

This just breaks my heart. I hope he has had a better and fulfilling life.

[TRJH1972]

@jlabrecque1 Also people who were deemed "feeble-minded" were sterilized at various institutions up until 1974 because it was believed by the U.S. Supreme Court that "One generation of imbiciles is enough."

[TRJH1972]

@jlabrecque1 @jlabrecque1 I have to respectfully disagree, the word "retarded" back in the '70's and before then meant you were almost nothing, hardly a person. As for the institutions being compared to concentration comps, inmates were forced to clean the bathrooms, bathe patients, pick vegatables, ect. at various institutions. I could have ended up at one myself had a been born ten or fifteen years earlier than I was. Not a concentration camp indeed.

[puertoricanman2]

I work and have worked with people in the past who came from willowbrook. Lots of them currently reside here in long island, ny.