Private Care for the Retarded

I read Hurst’s articles about people with disabilities who live in group homes and state hospitals. I am a person who has lived in both places and I now live in my own apartment, pay my own bills with my own checking account, use public transportation and make my own decisions about things that affect my life. I receive support to help me learn to live on my own. This is much better than living in a group home or state institution. Living in the community makes me feel like a normal person.

When I lived in Camarillo State Hospital, I received medication to change my behavior. I was told that I would not be able to live on my own and would always need to be supervised. I have proven them wrong! When I lived in a group home they worked with me on using a checking account to help me get “ready” to live on my own, but it was all pretend so I didn’t learn much. Now I live in the real world and I have a real job. I have joined a self-advocacy group and am learning to speak for myself.

Anyone who would say that a state institution is a better place to live because it is safer has never lived in one. Someone tells you when to get up, when to go to bed, when to eat, what you will eat, who your friends will be and what you can do with the very little bit of money you get each month. The community is full of risks, but most of us, if we were asked or given the choice, would choose these risks over the abuse, neglect and lack of dignity and respect we have experienced in institutions. I have spent eight of my 23 years in Camarillo.

Hurst picked some bad examples of community programs that should be closed. You cannot fix the problems in the community by putting people back in the institutions. Better community programs are needed to help people with disabilities to succeed.

MIKE HANSEN

San Diego