Presentation Slides (PDF) - University at Buffalo
Presentation Slides (PDF) - University at Buffalo
Presentation Slides (PDF) - University at Buffalo
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
WSDC Oral History Project - CE-PPWhy engage in oral history?UC Berkeley's website on the Disability Rights and Independent Living MovementTemple <strong>University</strong>, Institute on Disabilities – “Visionary Voices” projectSchwler, Speak-easy: People with mental handicaps talk about their lives in institutions and inthe community (1990)Pelka, Wh<strong>at</strong> We Have Done: An Oral History of the Disability Rights Movement (2012)
WSDC“West Seneca Developmental Center opened in October 1962 for thest<strong>at</strong>ed purposes of relieving overcrowded conditions in other st<strong>at</strong>efacilities and for serving Western New York St<strong>at</strong>e. In 1974, the namewas changed from West Seneca St<strong>at</strong>e School to West SenecaDevelopmental Center to reflect a change in philosophy andmission…” -KL
A (very) brief history of institutions…1860s-1940s
Congress Responds1946 – U.S. Congresspasses the MentalHealth Actleading to the cre<strong>at</strong>ionof the N<strong>at</strong>ionalInstitute of MentalHealth.
By the early 1950s…Spending on mental hospitals increases 100 percentMental hospital employee rises from 79,740 to more than 100,000Shift in the philosophy governing most mental hospitals away fromcustodial care to intensive tre<strong>at</strong>ment and releasebeginning of “de-institutionaliz<strong>at</strong>ion” in the United St<strong>at</strong>esStill over 500,000 institutionalized people in the US1949: The New York St<strong>at</strong>e Mental Health Commission was formed.1949: The St<strong>at</strong>e mental health system included 27 facilities, and the st<strong>at</strong>e'sinp<strong>at</strong>ient census was the largest in the n<strong>at</strong>ion.1955: New York’s inp<strong>at</strong>ient popul<strong>at</strong>ion peaked <strong>at</strong> 93,600Council of St<strong>at</strong>e Governors – mid-1950s
Willowbrook: the Last Gre<strong>at</strong>Disgrace (1972)http://www.youtube.com/w<strong>at</strong>ch?v=k_sYn8DnlH4
In 1974, the name was changed from West Seneca St<strong>at</strong>e School to WestSeneca Developmental Center to reflect a change in philosophy and mission…The West Seneca oral history project…
Disability & Oral HistoryDisability is a powerful analytical concept forunderstanding some of the broad changes ofthe last five decades.Disability is not simply the artifact ofchange; it is constitutive of those changes.
Change language