<story><title>The Ones We Sent Away</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/disabled-children-institutionalization-history/674763/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>asimpleusecase</author><text>I knew a lady who was born with very complex spina bifida. Her parents were wealthy and had very manicured lives. They signed her over to an institution at birth. She grew up with people with profound mental retardation. She receive no education. At 20 she was found by an uncle who always suspected something had happened that was not being disclosed. He began to visit her and teach her to read. He explained that she had a right to leave and helped her start her life. In a couple of years she was able to enter University and graduated despite the lack of any education before 20. She developed a friendship with a lady with CP and they were housemates when I met them. She died of pneumonia several years ago due to constricted lung size. She was a lovely friend.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Ones We Sent Away</title><url>https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/disabled-children-institutionalization-history/674763/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>hellotheretoday</author><text>I worked in a facility like this for the first 5 years of my career&lt;p&gt;Many of the clients are very aware they’ve been abandoned. Especially so because there are a select few who do get regular family visits.&lt;p&gt;It was crushingly depressing to work holidays and have the regular crew of kids that never went home or had visitors. If you work with adults it was significantly worse, many of them had no visitors for literal decades&lt;p&gt;Also those places pay terribly but I’m sure that shocks no one. When I worked there it was at one of the places known for paying very well in the industry and they payed 13&amp;#x2F;hr for children and 9&amp;#x2F;hr for adults (2010). AFAIK the rates are only 2-3 dollars more an hour now 13 years later</text></comment>