Fisher’s documentary Unforgotten: 25 years after Willowbrook, illustrates the vivid calamities the residents of Willowbrook experienced. It is a documentary where the inappropriate treatment of employees and management towards the residents, shook the city of Staten Island.
On the other hand, just like Willowbrook, Orange Grove Homes (false/made up) is a special-needs residential facility in central Florida. It is a facility that has caught the attention of the county officials for their inability to effectively care for their residents. Therefore, the functioning of this facility was compared to the poor performance of Willowbrook. As a result, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) was called to assist OGH. They will work together in order to identify …show more content…
With that being said, for me, many families failed to protect their relatives living in Willowbrook. They did not inquire or visited their family members often enough to know what was happening to them, the causes of their bruises, the lack of hygiene, or the precariousness of the place. This is supported by Bernard testimony when he stated “I suffered and no one cared for me. My family only visited me every 5-10 years (Fisher, 2015). Moreover, the abuse was allowed because many families were not able to handle the shame of having a defective child as part of their family. Therefore, many of these relatives, tried to bury their children into oblivion as it was Bernard’s case (Fisher, 2015)
Society: In this case, for me society was one of the main reasons why the cruelties at Willowbrook were allowed to happen. As one of the interviewed said, “society urged us to get rid of them, to not have them at home” (Fisher, 2015). Those who had a mentally disabled child, were rejected because their child did not met society hypocrite double standards. This mentality placed a burden on many families. This is how Patty sister (a Willowbrook resident) felt. She was urged to forget about her sister and to feel embarrassed to walk in public with someone considered different (Fisher,
On the other hand, just like Willowbrook, Orange Grove Homes (false/made up) is a special-needs residential facility in central Florida. It is a facility that has caught the attention of the county officials for their inability to effectively care for their residents. Therefore, the functioning of this facility was compared to the poor performance of Willowbrook. As a result, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) was called to assist OGH. They will work together in order to identify …show more content…
With that being said, for me, many families failed to protect their relatives living in Willowbrook. They did not inquire or visited their family members often enough to know what was happening to them, the causes of their bruises, the lack of hygiene, or the precariousness of the place. This is supported by Bernard testimony when he stated “I suffered and no one cared for me. My family only visited me every 5-10 years (Fisher, 2015). Moreover, the abuse was allowed because many families were not able to handle the shame of having a defective child as part of their family. Therefore, many of these relatives, tried to bury their children into oblivion as it was Bernard’s case (Fisher, 2015)
Society: In this case, for me society was one of the main reasons why the cruelties at Willowbrook were allowed to happen. As one of the interviewed said, “society urged us to get rid of them, to not have them at home” (Fisher, 2015). Those who had a mentally disabled child, were rejected because their child did not met society hypocrite double standards. This mentality placed a burden on many families. This is how Patty sister (a Willowbrook resident) felt. She was urged to forget about her sister and to feel embarrassed to walk in public with someone considered different (Fisher,