By Saundra Dobbs
According to the last U.S. Census, there are 6.2 to 7.5 million people who are mentally retarded in the United States. A person is classified as mentally retarded if his/her IQ is below 70 before he/she reaches the age of 18. According to the American Association of the Mentally Retarded, of these approximately seven million people, an estimated 90 percent is sexually abused sometime in their life.
I was given this shocking information less than a year ago. Last April I needed a new job that would be more flexible with my hours than my job at a law firm. I was desperate. After an exhaustive search I found employment: working as a counselor with mentally retarded adults in a group home. At first I was apprehensive. This was a population I had no exposure to, but my psychology major had afforded me the opportunity to study behavior modification techniques in depth (a methodology used in group homes). When I walked into work my first day, I was completely overwhelmed. With shame, I must admit that my first thought was, “Oh my God. There are eight retarded people running around, drooling, and trying to touch me.” However, after the first day I was in love with the job. I loved the residents, my co-workers, and the job itself. After I was working there for a month or so, I began to learn a lot about institutionalization and the stigma attached to mental retardation. I realized I had been nervous about my job because the mentally retarded population is hidden in our society.
There are very few federal regulations in place to protect the mentally retarded population. Many states have laws and guidelines but they are not enough. For the most part, individual agencies determine what type of treatment their charges receive. While abuse is explicitly outlawed, forms of mental and emotional abuse can exist throughout these organizations. The organization I work for is one of the most highly regulated networks in the country. For example, it is very transparent (all events involving the residents must be meticulously documented or the employees will be fired) in order to ensure that abuse is not taking place. It is appalling that this is not a universalized practice. In addition to this, the organization I work for provides programs for residents to learn about sex and if they can complete and pass a series of courses on sexuality then they can become “consenting.” Most organizations do not provide their consumers with this basic human right. Without offering training to the sexually curious, it leaves members of this population much more vulnerable to abuse because they are not completely aware of what is being done to them.
According to the American Association for the Mentally Retarded, of the 90 percent of the mentally retarded population that is abused, 49 percent will experience 10 or more abusive incidents. In addition to this, research suggests that 97 to 99 percent of abusers are known and trusted by the victims. This means that caregivers are the most likely perpetrators of abuse.
These statistics will probably decrease over the next generation, however, because of a change in the way people with mental retardation are treated. Until 15 years ago, anyone who was mentally retarded was simply institutionalized. During institutionalization, outrageous abuses occurred. On Long Island, an institution called Willow Brooke was among the worst. Sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect were pervasive. Geraldo Rivera uncovered the horror of institutionalization for the mentally retarded population. As a result of Rivera’s reports, the families sued to clean-up the institution. However, the judge one-upped them. He ruled that the mentally retarded should be put in group homes. The community did not want this, and as a result many of the group home projects were sabotaged. A second ruling said that the group home system had to try harder. The second try was much more successful. However, what this created was a generation of mentally retarded adults who were institutionalized most of their lives, placed in the community, failed in the community, were re-institutionalized and then placed back in group home settings.
Currently, there are early outreach programs which help increase the cognitive awareness of people with mental retardation, group homes are in place rather than institutions and there is less of a stigma attached to being mentally retarded . As a result parents are more involved. However, universal standards are still dramatically needed. There must be guidelines which protect this population from abuse, allow for basic human rights, and require transparency in the way that agencies run. In addition, community integration is essential in protecting this population. The mentally retarded are almost viewed as sub-human, and as a result their plight is ignored. n