Pennhurst and the Struggle for Disability Rights

Dennis B. Downey is Emeritus Professor of History at Millersville University. He is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including A Season of Renewal: The Columbian Exposition and Victorian America and Coatesville and the Lynching of Zachariah Walker: Death in a Pennsylvania Steel Town.James W. Conroy is President of the Center for Outcome Analysis and President of the Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance. He is the author of more than a dozen longitudinal studies, including one on Pennhurst.

• List of IllustrationsForewordDick and Ginny ThornburghAcknowledgmentsIntroductionDennis B. Downey and James W. ConroyPart 1: Pennhurst in Time and Place1. The Idea of Pennhurst: Eugenics and the Abandonmentof HopeDennis B. Downey2. Living in a World ApartJ. Gregory Pirmann3. The Veil of Secrecy: A Legacy of Exploitation and AbuseJames W. Conroy and Dennis B. DowneyPart 2: The Power of Advocacy4. Suffer the Little Children: An Oral RemembranceBill Baldini5. The Rise of Family and Organizational AdvocacyJanet Albert-Herman and Elizabeth Coppola6. From PARC to Pennhurst: The Legal Argument for EqualityJudith A. Gran7. The Rise of Self-Advocacy: A Personal RemembranceMark Friedman and Nancy K. Nowell8. The Pennhurst Longitudinal Study and Public Policy: How We Learned That People Were Better OffJames W. ConroyPart 3: A View to the Future9. Touring the Ecology of the AbandonedHeath Hofmeister and Chris Peecho Cadwalader10. Preservation: A Case Study of Collective ConscienceNathaniel Guest11. The Final Indignity and the Dawning of HopeEmily Smith BeitiksConclusionDennis B. Downey and James W. ConroyTimeline of Pennhurst State School and HospitalSuggestions for Further ReadingContributorsIndex

“The singular importance of Pennhurst—to people with disabilities, American history, and humanity’s long arc toward justice—cannot be overstated. Wisely, brilliantly, the editors of this multilayered and illuminating book chose to tell the tale of this one place in a way that encompasses all it epitomized, from eminent physicians urging tragic beliefs to the flesh and blood individuals who lived with (and loved amidst) the consequences, from the brave reporters who exposed the concealed and the cruel to the dogged advocates who battled for rights and freedom. Even the ghastly misuse of the site in our own time—as infuriating as it is emblematic—is laid bare. I wish every politician with a conscience, indeed, every person with a heart and a soul, would pick up this book. A compelling feat of truth-telling, it is essential reading for all.”—Rachel Simon, author of Riding the Bus with My Sister and The Story of Beautiful Girl