Slides Willowbrook
Slides Willowbrook
Slides Willowbrook
Memorial
By Sky, Stephen, Amelia, and Kelsey
History of Willowbrook
Located on Staten Island, New York
Patients- 6,055
State-supported institution
Medical Practices
“Short of Dachau, or a concentration camp in Germany where they were actually
burning people every day, they didn’t have to burn people here. They needed to
keep them alive because they needed to make money off them”. -
William Bronston- physician at Willowbrook State school
Patients were mistreated and often were given Thorazine (heavy tranquilizer).
Willowbrook under the Kennedy Administration
While doing a tour at Willowbrook, Senator Robert Kennedy saw the horrors and
harsh conditions of Willowbrook and labeled it as a “snake pit” due to the filthy
living conditions for children.
Because of the attention that was drawn to Willowbrook, a lawsuit was filed in
1972. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the patients at Willowbrook.
● Institutionalization: the thought that through harsh treatments used Briarcliff Asylum (AHS)
● “Split”, a film by M. Night Shyamalan is about dissociative identity disorder (DID), and while DID is
sometimes difficult to deal with, those with DID are not monsters, or even dangerous most of the
time.
● “Psycho” a film by Alfred Hitchcock ends with an explanation as to why the main character (and
serial killer) is the way he is: DID. Again, DID does not always result in dangerous, “psychotic”
characteristics.
Due to the stigmas media has created, many are fearful of those with mental
disorders. Back when Willowbrook State School was running, these frightened
friends/family members would send their children away to institutes such as
Willowbrook. This could have simply been avoided with some basic understanding
on mental disabilities.
Why is any of this important?
Willowbrook patients (and other individuals who endured institutional
abuse) aren’t accurately recognized in today’s literature/media.
The youth especially rely on media to get their information, so if all they
see is American Horror Story or other works that inaccurately describe
institutions, they become unaware that similar situations have taken
place in our country.
Our Willowbrook memorial will honor the victims and be a public place
for everyone, disabled and abled, to enjoy.
Other Memorials
-The Berlin memorial to the disabled victims of the Nazis was
especially designed to accommodate disabled people moving
through it’s space.
-Our memorial will be accessible.
-It will be accessible to wheelchair users.
-The plaque will be half in Braille and one half in print.
-The plaque will be written in a way which will make it accessible
to readers at all levels of literacy.
What Will It Cost?
-It is estimated that the memorial itself will cost around $21.65 million.
-The names of the survivors will be crowdsourced via voluntary information from
survivors and their families.
-The cost of the fundraising race and fair will be covered by private donations to begin
with, but revenue from the first event should, in time, pay for further ones.
How Will This Uplift the Disabled Community?
-The memorial itself will provide education to the general public on the abuses that went
on at Willowbrook.
- For survivors and members of the disabled community, it will provide a sense of
closure. With the added elements of the annual run and fair, the memorial will become a
living memorial because the funds that these events raise will also go to the enrichment of
the whole disabled community in Staten Island.
-The events themselves will also foster an atmosphere of fun and joy that will increase
bonding and understanding between the disabled and abled communities. However, it is
very important that disabled people are in decision-making positions at all levels in the
festival, run, and memorial committees.
Sky’s Sources
“College of Staten Island Breaks Ground on The Willowbrook Mile.” AHRC New York City, 15 Nov. 2018,
www.ahrcnyc.org/news/college-staten-island-breaks-ground-willowbrook-mile/.
Padnani, Amy. “Willowbrook Survivors Recollect Dark Days.” SILive.com, SILive.com, 7 May 2010,
www.silive.com/news/2010/05/willowbrook_survivors_recollec_1.html.
“Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic Revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data
Journal 4: e7720. Https://Doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.” doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
“‘Exposé of Willowbrook State School’ - Geraldo Rivera - WABC-TV.” Nellie Bly's "Ten Days in a Madhouse" | Undercover
Reporting, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, dlib.nyu.edu/undercover/expose-willowbrook-state-school-geraldo-rivera-
wabc-tv.
“The Duality of Medicine: The Willowbrook State School Experiments.” The Review and Debates at NYU,
www.thereviewatnyu.com/all/2016/2/20/the-duality-of-medicine-the-willowbrook-state-school-experiments.
Stephen’s Citing
“A Short History of the Disability Rights Movement.” Meriah Nichols, 1 Nov. 2018, www.meriahnichols.com/a-short-history-
of-the-disability-rights-movement/.
www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/tbacig/studproj/is3099/pplfrst/Untitled1.html.
disabilityrightnow.wordpress.com/tag/disability-history/.
Murphy, Ryan. American Horror Story: Asylum: La Seconda Stagione Completa. American Horror Story: Asylum, Twentieth
Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2014.
bchadda, /. “AHS Asylum Truths #9: Mental Illness and Institutionalization in the 1950's.” Lots of Words, 21 Feb. 2015,
biancajchadda.wordpress.com/tag/the-similarities-between-willowbrook-state-school-and-briarcliffe-in-american-horror-
story/.
FilmRise. “Unforgotten: Twenty-Five Years After Willowbrook.” YouTube, YouTube, 15 May 2014,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjRIZFQcUY&t=2640s.
Rose, Steve. “From Split to Psycho: Why Cinema Fails Dissociative Identity Disorder.” The Guardian, Guardian News and
Media, 12 Jan. 2017, www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/12/cinema-dissociative-personality-disorder-split-james-mcavoy.
Kelsey Harrison
Works Cited
•Eddy, Melissa, “Monument Seeks to End Silence on Killings of the Disabled by the Nazis”, Berlin Journal, The
New York Times, September 2, 2014.
•Jost, Daniel, “Monumental Prices”, Landscape Architecture Magazine, landsarchitecturemagazine.org
•”The Inflation Calculator,” https://westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi