Former Governor Hugh Carey died this week. Among the articles discussing his accomplishments as governor, few mentioned one of the most important. Carey helped transform the care of mentally retarded citizens in New York and across the country into a much more humane, sensitive and effective system.
In the early 1970’s, mentally retarded people [as they were known at the time] in New York and throughout the U.S. were largely warehoused in large, horrible institutions. One institution, Willowbrook, came to symbolize that problem.
Wards at Willowbrook housed fifty or more people. The people lived all day in one room about half the size of a basketball court. There was no furniture in the room and nothing to do but listen to the blaring of a television placed on an out of reach ledge. Residents were often naked or clothed in ripped and soiled clothing. Feces, urine and blood could be found throughout the room. Often there was only one employee in the room.
In some wards, the people had physical disabilities and they could be found stacked two or three in a “cripple cart,” a wooden, unpadded trough. They lay there all day.
In 1972, lawyers for the NYCLU and the Legal Aid Society sued Willowbrook. The state fought hard against the case, arguing that the courts should stay out of dictating the treatment of the mentally retarded citizens in state custody.
Immediately after taking office, Governor Carey ordered his budget director to settle the case and he did so with a landmark settlement that required massive improvement in the mental retardation system in New York. It required that residents of Willowbrook be moved out of the dysfunctional institution into humane, small, homelike settings.
Perhaps most importantly, Carey ordered that these changes occur not just at Willowbrook, but throughout the state. And he worked tirelessly to be sure that his orders were carried out.
The transformation of the New York system of care for mentally retarded citizens became a model for the nation. State after state followed New York’s lead and began closing institutions and, importantly, placing mentally retarded citizens in home-like, quality settings. It would not have happened without Hugh Carey.
Chris Hansen was at the NYCLU and one of the lawyers representing the residents of Willowbrook.
