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Christmas In Purgatory: A Photographic Essay On Mental Retardation

Creator: Burton Blatt and Fred Kaplan (authors)
Date: 1974
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7  Figure 8  Figure 9  Figure 10  Figure 11  Figure 12  Figure 13  Figure 14  Figure 15  Figure 16  Figure 17  Figure 18  Figure 19  Figure 20  Figure 21  Figure 22  Figure 23  Figure 24  Figure 25  Figure 26  Figure 27  Figure 28  Figure 29  Figure 30  Figure 31  Figure 32  Figure 33  Figure 34  Figure 35  Figure 36  Figure 37  Figure 38  Figure 39  Figure 40  Figure 41  Figure 42  Figure 43  Figure 44  Figure 45  Figure 46  Figure 47  Figure 48  Figure 49  Figure 50  Figure 51  Figure 52  Figure 53  Figure 54  Figure 55  Figure 56  Figure 57  Figure 58  Figure 59  Figure 60  Figure 61  Figure 62  Figure 63  Figure 64  Figure 65  Figure 66  Figure 67  Figure 68  Figure 69  Figure 70  Figure 71  Figure 72  Figure 73  Figure 74  Figure 75  Figure 76  Figure 77  Figure 78  Figure 79  Figure 80  Figure 81  Figure 82  Figure 83  Figure 84  Figure 85  Figure 86  Figure 87  Figure 88  Figure 89  Figure 90  Figure 91  Figure 92  Figure 93  Figure 94  Figure 95  Figure 96  Figure 97  Figure 98  Figure 99  Figure 100  Figure 101  Figure 102  Figure 103  Figure 104  Figure 105  Figure 106  Figure 107  Figure 108  Figure 109  Figure 110  Figure 111  Figure 112  Figure 113  Figure 114  Figure 115  Figure 116  Figure 117  Figure 118  Figure 119  Figure 120  Figure 121

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In each of the dormitories for severely retarded residents, there is what is euphemistically called a day room or recreation room. The odor in each of these rooms is overpowering. After a visit to a day room we had to send our clothes to the dry cleaners to have the stench removed. The facilities often contribute to the horror. Floors are sometimes wooden and excretions are rubbed into the cracks, leaving permanent stench. Most day rooms have a series of bleacher benches, on which sit unclad residents, jammed together, without purposeful activity, communication, or any interaction. In each day room is an attendant or two, whose main function seems to be to "stand around" and, on occasion, hose down the floor "driving" excretions into a sewer conveniently located in the center of the room.

35  

We were invited into female as well as male day rooms, in spite of the supervisor's knowledge that we, male visitors, would be observing naked females. In one such dormitory, with an overwhelming odor, we noticed feces on the wooden ceilings, and on the patients as well as the floors.

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The question one might ask is. Is it possible to prevent these conditions? Although we are convinced that to teach severely retarded adults to wear clothes one must invest time and patience, we believe it possible to do so -- given adequate staff. There is one more requirement. The staff has to be convinced that residents can be taught to wear clothes, that they can be engaged in purposeful activities, that they can learn to control their bladders. The staff has to believe that their "boys" and "girls" are human beings who can learn. Obviously, the money and the additional staff are vitally important. However, even more important, is the fundamental belief that each of these residents is a human being.

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PURGATORY I
"Suffer the little children..."

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"Suffer the little children.. ."

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The infant dormitories depressed us the most. Here, cribs were placed -- as in the other dormitories -- side by side and head to head. Very young children, one and two years of age, were lying in cribs, without interaction with any adult, without playthings, without any apparent stimulation. In one dormitory, that had over 100 infants and was connected to 9 other dormitories that totaled 1,000 infants, we experienced a heartbreaking encounter. As we entered, we heard a muffled sound emanating from the "blind" side of a doorway. A young child seemed to be calling, "Come. Come play with me. Touch me." We walked to the door. On the other side were forty or more unkempt infants crawling around a bare floor in a bare room. One of the children had managed to squeeze his hand under the doorway and push his face through the side of the latched door. His moan was the clearest representation we have ever heard of the lonely, hopeless man. In other day rooms, we saw groups of 20 and 30 very young children lying, rocking, sleeping, sitting -- alone. Each of these rooms were without toys or adult human contact, although each had desperate looking adult attendants "standing by."

40  

In another dormitory, we were taken on a tour by the chief physician who was anxious to show us a child who had a very rare medical condition. The doctor explained to us that, aside from the child's dwarfism and misshapen body, one of the primary methods for diagnosing this condition is the deep guttural voice. In order to demonstrate this, he pinched the child. The child did not make any sound. He pinched her again, and again -- harder, and still harder. Finally, as if in desperation, he insured her response with a pinch that turned into a gouge and caused the child to scream in obvious pain.

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In some of the children's dormitories we observed "nursery programs." What surprised us most was their scarcity and the primitiveness of those in operation. Therefore, we were not unprepared to see several children with severe head lacerations. We were told these were "head bangers." Head banging is another condition that some people think is inevitable when confronted with young severely mentally retarded children. We challenge this. We have reason to believe that head banging can be drastically reduced in an environment where children have other things to do.

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The "Special Education" we observed in the dormitories for young children was certainly not education. But, it was special. It was among the most especially frightening and depressing encounters with human beings we have ever experienced.

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PURGATORY I
"The wretched souls..."

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"The wretched souls of those who lived
Without all praise or blame."
Dante

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The living quarters for older men and women were, for the most part, gloomy and sterile. There were the rows and rows of benches on which sat countless human beings, in silent rooms, waiting for dinner call or bedtime. We saw resident after resident in "institutional garb." Sometimes, the women wore shrouds -- inside out.

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We heard a good deal of laughter but saw little cheer. There were few things to be cheerful about. A great many of the men and women looked depressed and acted depressed. Even the television sets, in several of the day rooms, appeared to be co-conspirators in a crusade for gloom. These sets were not in working order. Sadly, the residents continued to sit on their benches, in neat rows, looking at the blank tubes.

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