The Problem Today

Serbia mental institution abuse was the beginning to my initial research on the subject of mental institution abuses. There was a headline about how children and adults were living in these terrible situations without care. They are being treated like animals. This article first caught my attention. I hope it catches yours. Children, innocent children are in these places of torture and abuse. They have no stimulation, no physical contact, they become barabaric because of the neglect. The descriptions of the situations are repulsive.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/21791339#21791339

the above is a link to a video on MSNBC's nightly news. Ann Curry gives a report on the current abuse situations.

In the interview we gain perspective to the issue and an overview of what is happening in that country. The abuse is just devastating to hear about. One would think that we would have an understanding about our fellow human beings, but in that culture, the people are not considered human. With the neglect, they do not act like humans anymore. Treated like criminals, the people are dying and rotting within their institutions.

Now Serbia is just one example. Ignorance i believe is something that Americans struggle with. But in searching, i have found numerous examples of abuse and neglect right here. The facilities do not meet standards set by the government, no one from the government bothers to check on the facilities, there is little funding that is being cut even further, and underpaid, overworked staff that cannot handle everything. They are being pushed to methods of control that mimic those that were discovered in concentration camps.

But sadly the business of the mental health industry is hushed up. Mental illness has always been sort of a taboo subject. No one wants to acknowledge it. People do not like things that deviate from normal. The other weekend i went with my friends out to eat with a 5 year old child who has severe down syndrome. He is pretty much the cutest kid i have ever, and the fact that he is tiny, can't talk, and has a little problem with saliva is just absolutely precious to me. He smiles and giggles and holds my hand. He gives you that look of complete trust, complete honesty, and complete innocence. While we were eating people would pass by our table and give us looks of confusion. People were uncomfortable with the fact that college girls were goggling over this little boy. The looks were not happy ones, like if he would have been born without Downs. And if the looks were not that of discomfort, confusion, or disapproval, they were that of timidness, awkwardness, or they just passed by without any acknowledgment. This is not the first time things like this happen. In high school and other grades, we were almost subconsciously taught to ignore the special ed kids. We were kept completely separate. Now in academics i understand this because they need a different type of stimulation than those without disabilities, but at least in regards to recess and things like that, I feel that if we had been able to interact with them, the stigma of discomfort would not be so prevalent.

I'll get back to more on this later.