The Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities. Designed to accommodate 4,000 children, by 1965 Willowbrook had a population of 6,000, and scandal soon erupted over news of the institution’s horrendous conditions and questionable medical practices. Sen. Robert Kennedy toured the institution in 1965. Calling Willowbrook a “snake pit,” Kennedy stated that individuals in the overcrowded facility were “living in filth and dirt, their clothing in rags, in rooms less comfortable and cheerful than the cages in which we put animals in a zoo.”
The scandal led to passage of the federal Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) of 1980and the school was closed in 1987.
(Source: NYC.gov)
Willowbrook has become a rallying cry for advocates of people with disabilities, and is a reminder of where years of neglect and underfunding can lead.
