Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from The Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong, Vintage, June30th, 2020. (pp. 85-89)

Summary:

Ricardo Thornton begins by introducing himself and his purpose, to represent the ninety-two thousand institutionalized people with intellectual disabilities. Thornton explains that he grew up in institutions with a special focus on Forest Haven, an institution where his siblings and wife were placed. He takes the time to explain how the institution residents were controlled and denied independence. For example, he was never told his siblings were in the same facility or that he had siblings while in Forest Haven. Thornton was one of the first people to be allowed to leave Forest Haven. He remarks on the surrounding community’s attitude toward the former Forest Haven residents, unwelcoming and hostile. Thornton moved into a group home where he began dating his wife and worked to establish himself. Thornton reflects upon doubt and discouragement he received throughout his life, most people believing he could not be a functional member of society. He states this is the reason he advocates for institutionalized people; He wants to give them a voice because he knows that they are denied their own voices. He acknowledges the changes that have been made and presses that we cannot go back to institutional structures of the past. He concludes that segregating people based upon intellectual abilities is only harmful and the only reason he stands before the audience is because people believed in his potential. He leaves the audience with the task of protecting and giving the people still in institutions the chance to grow.

Quotes:

“Segregating People is always bad; people never grow in [institutions]and are safer and happier in the community.” Pp.89

“We can’t go back to a time when people are moved against their will to places where they have n opportunities to learn, grow and contribute.” Pp.88

“…I didn’t get to think for myself. The staff thought for me and made all of my decisions.” Pp.85

Reflection:

This made me cry.

I am more familiar with intellectual disabilities than any other category of disability, so this speech hit a bit close to home. The interesting thing here is Thornton is not using any novel arguments. I have seen his main point hundreds of times before, but the fact that it needs to be made still is heartbreaking. While we as a culture/society have improved our awareness and treatment of mental differences, People like Thornton still need to fight to be seen as deserving of a life. Though He never explicitly stated this, I feel like the central message of this piece was “there is a difference between being alive and living”. Being alive is not enough. The person who is just being kept alive is being robbed of their person-hood and that is just a step away from killing them. Why is that okay?