44,968 people.
According to the Residential Information Systems Project, the official organization that compiles these numbers annually, that's the number of "Developmentally Disabled/Mental Retardation" patients living in institutions nationwide. By 2006, that number had decreased to 38,172.
That number is still unacceptable.
When people think of institutions, they think of the developmentally disabled and those with psychiatric disabilities. While mostly true, that notion doesn't paint a realistic picture.
Developmentally disabled, as per the Developmental Disabilities Act of 1970, is defined as a person which:
(A) (i) is attributable to mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, or autism;
According to that definition, I'm developmentally disabled. If you break down the word and put aside preconceived notions, it's a very apt definition. My physical development according to societal standards was limited, but intellectually, I'm on the same level as others my age. The problem is that society has adopted the label
"developmental disability" for all disabilities. Trust me when I say no disability is the same, whether or not it carries the same medical name or societal label. Every disability lies on a spectrum, and lumping us together does no one any good.
The people in institutions here in the US also lie all across that spectrum, despite the common tendency of the public at large to lump us all together under the convenient label of "developmentally and/or psychiatrically disabled". Many of these institutions are not places of refuge. Instead, they are filled with all kinds of abuse, from physical to the more insidious and more difficult to detect emotional.
Take the Washington State case where a client at the Rainier School for the Disabled died. His name was Peter Bohkne. The death was first ruled "natural," but a recent news article later reported that police are now investigating his death as a possible homicide, after hearing accounts of the repeated beatings Peter would receive. A local article offers tapes of the report, charging documents against two of the
accused, as well as the August 6th 911 call.
Also in the news lately was a report about Serbian institutions. The mistreatment, malnutrition, and downright inhumane conditions are truly appalling. The report, which appeared on Dateline and features an article on MSNBC, tells of children and adults in Serbian mental institutions who are tied to their beds or cribs constantly. If you look at the pictures and read the article, it's hard to believe anyone could defend this kind of treatment toward other human beings.
In this International Herald Tribune article, the Serbian government declared the allegations propaganda and claimed they
"will use all democratic and legal means to counter such dark propaganda."
But after looking at the pictures of kids and young adults strapped to beds and disfigured from malnutrition, who could deny these kids live tortuous lives?
And what does it mean that some people with disabilities, like myself, were saddened but not surprised at any of these allegations?