Why the abuse at Texas institutions? Experts offer explanations
March 18th, 2009
From National Public Radio:
The arrests over the alleged “fight club” at the Corpus Christi State School are only the latest in a long history of abuse in Texas institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. The U.S. Department of Justice is negotiating now with the state to increase staff and make other changes.
Experts say the impersonal nature of large institutions breeds abuse, and that isolation and lack of staff training add to the problem.
Researcher Dick Sobsey of the University of Alberta in Canada says peer pressure can encourage caregivers to engage in abuse.
“Where some employees are abusive and others are not, the ones who are not abusive, there’s always a danger that they’re going to report the ones who are. If everybody’s abusive, then everybody’s hands are dirty, and so they’re safe with each other,” Sobsey says.
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March 18th, 2009 at 8:38 am
This is a perfect example of government (through the judicial system) trying to throw money at a problem (increased funding at the institutions) rather than realizing that the old system doesn’t work anymore no matter the funding. Advocates need to be educating judges as well about community-based care as a viable — and usually preferable — option for people currently living in large institutional settings.