Reading the Research: Institutional Abuse

Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.

Today's article is one piece of why autistic self-advocates can come off as hostile when things like institutions are suggested.  The Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) actually has a whole toolkit about this topic.  There are two versions, one with pictures and very simple language, and one that's more text-heavy.  The text-heavy version includes links to scientific studies at the end, should anyone object to the viewpoints described therein.  

I should note that the study I linked today is from Canada, a country that is notable for caring more about human rights than most countries.  Including the USA, for all our bluster.  And still this is what they found: abuse runs rampant in institutions.  Unsafe methods of restraint are used daily.  People are left isolated (a form of torture) in spaces not designed for that.  Y'know, like closets.  On a daily basis.  

This sort of treatment is banned by international law, as it flagrantly violates the UN's basic human rights... but little or nothing is said about it.  In fact, most of these incidents are never reported or documented.  What's not said here: disabled people are assumed to not be worthy of basic human rights.  

How do we know about this?  Mostly, because the children exposed to such horrid living conditions told their parents.  And those parents in turn informed the researchers when the latter asked.  The institutions were quite happy to pretend nothing was wrong, presumably as long as they get paid.  And the parents... well, I hope to never understand why anyone would be okay with that kind of systematic abuse.  

Oh, and lest anyone say "not my country, it's got to be better here..."  A few years back I worked at an ABA clinic for kids under 6.  Right next door (sharing part of the building, in fact) was what's probably called a state school or something of the like.  There were school classes, but all the kids that attended had disabilities of some variety, and some, if not all, lived in the building right next door.  

That building was not a house.  It was more like a prison.  Complete with crap food, which I got to smell every time I took out the trash.  Some of the kids were clearly abuse victims and emotionally disturbed.  I once got stuck in a closet (we stored files in there) for 15 minutes while a teenager had a screaming meltdown right outside.  I wanted to leave ASAP, but I didn't want to get hit, and I certainly didn't want to make the situation worse.  

So yeah, these places exist.  Probably a lot closer than you think, too.  

(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)