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This post is an opinion piece by Robert Nelkin of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During his 50-year career, Bob led change of human services in a variety of roles at non-profit, university, local state and federal governments, and on behalf of the business community at United Way. Specific positions included: Executive Assistant to the Chair of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners; Director of Human Services for Allegheny County; Director of Policy Initiatives at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development, Executive Director of the Governor’s Commission for Children and Families, and President and CEO of United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Wrongs to Rights: Fifty Years of Progress for People with Disabilities (April 14, 1973 to April 14, 2023)
“We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice,” Dr. Martin Luther King famously assured America in 1968. A half-century later, Dr. King’s prophesy about the civil rights of black Americans also turns out to be true about the human rights of people with disabilities.
Let me explain.
On January 30, 1973, volunteers from the Allegheny County Chapter Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (ARC), daringly revealed the scandalous conditions at Polk State School and Hospital, a Pennsylvania state institution for people with intellectual disabilities. The volunteers, who were parents of children with intellectual disabilities, fiercely sought to secure a better future for not just their own children but for all children. I was part of the team as a paid ARC advocate. We arrived at the institution unannounced and, despite resistance from the Superintendent, we insisted on visiting the backwards – uncovering conditions long hidden from the view of parents and others.
The notes from one of our visits 50 years ago documented some of the horrors. The wards were unbelievably overcrowded and understaffed. The individuals were subjected to every conceivable mistreatment and indignity.
We documented: “One hundred beds per bedroom. No schooling or training. Limited interaction by staff. Residents tied to their benches or drugged to be easier to control. Cruel punishments of residents. A child lying in her vomit. The place a ‘hell hole’.”
Extremely upset by what we saw, and the lack of improvement from prior visits, we swore not to stand by while these innocent children and adults were so horribly mistreated. We came back from that visit enraged and resolute to sue the state, pressure public officials to visit and see for themselves, demand one thousand residents be moved to alleviate overcrowding, and expose these atrocities to the public. The cruelty had to be stopped once and for all!
As shocking as these revelations were, a greater shock would be soon come a few weeks later. Pennsylvania ARC visitors to another Polk backward saw a woman caged. In another ward, a man was caged. Yes, caged! Human beings caged! On April 14, 1973, precisely 50 years ago, in response to our call for immediate dismantling of the cages, the State Secretary of Public Welfare visited Polk unannounced. When the Superintendent refused to dismantle the cages, he was fired....[CONTINUE READING THIS POST]
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