History of Disability

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Today in class we watched a film entitled "Suffer the Little Children" and discussed the history of disability. In the documentary it mainly focused on the Pennhurst Institution and exposing a lot of the wrongful actions taking place there. The Pennhurst Institute was a home for the mentally disabled that opened in 1908. In the documentary, it was shown that Pennhurst was understaffed, needed major reconstruction of the buildings, and overcrowded. The physicians openly admitted to abusing the children at the institution, some of these children even died. In the documentary it showed children in straight jackets, shackled to the beds, and the cottages being overcrowded. One of the physicians stated that some of the children admitted into Pennhurst weren't initially diagnosed with a mental disability, but being in the institute would make it almost impossible to mentally develop fully. The institution finally closed in November, 1987. 

The documentary opened my eyes to how bad it was for those children in Pennhurst. Between the abuse and being wrongfully put in to the institute, these children that actually had disabilities and needed help weren't getting what they needed. Pennhurst didn't give the children in there the right opportunities to grow and mentally develop. For me, the most important part was understanding how the children in Pennhurst were being treated and taken care of. Initially, I never noticed how people mistreated other with disabilities. This is probably due to the world not being so open about those with disabilities. Not many people talk about what it is like for those who have a disability and/or how to be helpful to them. This is similar to those with PTSD,  behavior issues, or other medical conditions who might not be getting the proper help they need and are being mistreated for their disability. 

Having seen "Suffer the Little Children", I now see how our actions can be hurtful to those with disabilities. This means that we need to be more mindful of what we do or say to everyone. This documentary has made me see that we use hurtful words to describe those with disabilities and how we treat them differently. Going forward, we should stop trying to segregate those with disabilities and those without. We should also spread the word to end the word. Meaning, stop using the wrong words to describe someone with a disability that could be hurtful. Throughout the history of disability, we have changed the words we use to describe individuals with disabilities, and I think we still have room for improvement and to continue to make positive changes. 

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