Description
Book SynopsisA comprehensive study of the history of the Pennhurst State School and Hospital (1908–87), a state-operated institution in Pennsylvania for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Explores Pennhurst’s enduring impact on the disability civil rights movement in America.
Trade Review“The singular importance of Pennhurst—to people with disabilities, American history, and humanity’s long arc toward justice—cannot be overstated. Wisely, brilliantly, the editors of this multilayered and illuminating book chose to tell the tale of this one place in a way that encompasses all it epitomized, from eminent physicians urging tragic beliefs to the flesh and blood individuals who lived with (and loved amidst) the consequences, from the brave reporters who exposed the concealed and the cruel to the dogged advocates who battled for rights and freedom. Even the ghastly misuse of the site in our own time—as infuriating as it is emblematic—is laid bare. I wish every politician with a conscience, indeed, every person with a heart and a soul, would pick up this book. A compelling feat of truth-telling, it is essential reading for all.”
—Rachel Simon,author of Riding the Bus with My Sister and The Story of Beautiful Girl
“In this historical study of Pennhurst, the authors take us from the fears about disabilities raised by eugenics to the horrors of institutional life, then to the central role of Pennhurst in litigation that ushered in a new era of disability rights, and finally back to fears, this time by the use of some of the property for “haunted” Halloween tours that play on the collective memories embedded in its institutional walls. The book is a much more fitting remembrance of those who fought and survived.”
—William C. Gaventa,author of Disability and Spirituality: Recovering Wholeness
“I wish every politician with a conscience, indeed, every person with a heart and a soul, would pick up this book. A compelling feat of truth-telling, it is essential reading for all.”
—Rachel Simon,author of Riding the Bus with My Sister and The Story of Beautiful Girl
“Speaks to the connections between disability history and public history and provides insight and context into a key place and moment in the movement for disability rights. The book deserves a wide audience.”
—Steven Noll The Public Historian
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Foreword
Dick and Ginny Thornburgh
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Dennis B. Downey and James W. Conroy
Part 1: Pennhurst in Time and Place
1. The Idea of Pennhurst: Eugenics and the Abandonment
of Hope
Dennis B. Downey
2. Living in a World Apart
J. Gregory Pirmann
3. The Veil of Secrecy: A Legacy of Exploitation and Abuse
James W. Conroy and Dennis B. Downey
Part 2: The Power of Advocacy
4. Suffer the Little Children: An Oral Remembrance
Bill Baldini
5. The Rise of Family and Organizational Advocacy
Janet Albert-Herman and Elizabeth Coppola
6. From PARC to Pennhurst: The Legal Argument for Equality
Judith A. Gran
7. The Rise of Self-Advocacy: A Personal Remembrance
Mark Friedman and Nancy K. Nowell
8. The Pennhurst Longitudinal Study and Public Policy: How We Learned That People Were Better Off
James W. Conroy
Part 3: A View to the Future
9. Touring the Ecology of the Abandoned
Heath Hofmeister and Chris Peecho Cadwalader
10. Preservation: A Case Study of Collective Conscience
Nathaniel Guest
11. The Final Indignity and the Dawning of Hope
Emily Smith Beitiks
Conclusion
Dennis B. Downey and James W. Conroy
Timeline of Pennhurst State School and Hospital
Suggestions for Further Reading
Contributors
Index
