I am in tears watching this. My wife and I live in Oregon and my wife is now developmentally disabled an accident she had 10 years ago. I love her with all of my heart and would never ever ever consider sending her anywhere. It's unbelievable to me. I feel so bad for these folks.

I'm a 40 year old man and seldom cry, but, seeing those poor babies in cages tore me up something chronic. I don't know how anyone could see those kids and not want to just take them home and save them from these nightmarish horrors. I am so shocked by this documentary, I can barely find words to describe how I feel.

My sister was born in 1978 with a severe form of muscular dystrophy.
Doctors told my mom it would be best for everyone if she were institutionalized.
My mom refused, took her home, and did her best to raise a confident and adept child.
Though wheelchair-bound and unable to use her arms or legs, my sister went on study at Stanford University.
By age 27 she had earned 2 bachelors degrees, 2 masters degrees, and a PhD.
She is now a tenured professor, mother, published author, painter, and has travelled the world.

Hearing the statement ''It would be better if you were never born'' is about the most vile thing I have ever heard. How can anyone adopt a world view like that? There isn't even any logic to it unless you are as cold as ice and see these people as baggage we need to dispose of. I sometimes can't believe I am living in a world like this. People with disability need to come first because they need our support and love. It should be instinctual to care for our fellow human beings.

I cant imagine how heartbroken these kids were being left in an institution. So sad.

I’m so blessed that my parent took my eldest brother home who was born in 1948 and passed away in 1968, I was 5 years old I remember Eddy until this day, and I miss him so much, Eddy you were so loved my your entire family ♥️🇨🇦🌏

I work with developmentally disabled individuals who grew up in Canadian institutions and it breaks my heart the stories I have heard of things they endured.
The torture perpetrated on people with mental illness and developmental disabilities is a dark and shameful chapter in history. Heartbreaking.

My mom worked at Fairview for a couple years in the mid 70's. I just remembered how much it distressed her. Now I see why. She talked about how they would just put them all in a gymnasium during the day with just a couple of people to watch them. Many of whom had helmets on.  She eventually quit a day she got bit in the arm by a male client. Took a chunk out of her upper arm. One of my very good friends from high school worked there in the 90s. Eventually she took some on at home at foster children. After many years of that and when the group home began she now runs several group homes and is the staff director of several group homes. It takes a special person to do that kind of work. She is one of them. I grew up only 12 miles away. I can remember people calling it Shangri-la...

I began my social service career in 1994 working with adults who were transitioning out of Fairview into group homes. The stories I've heard from those who can talk are horrific. The stories from those who can't talk are even worse. You can see it in their behavior. Shoveling food in their mouths so fast before someone could take it away. The crying, the violence towards themselves and others. Some group homes are just as bad as Fairview. The residents go without and depend on food stamps while someone at the top takes all of their money, cared for by staff who are inexperienced and overworked, not to mention underpaid. Those jobs are minimum wage. A handful of group homes are great. The residents know their rights, they have plenty of money, burial plans, real jobs, friends and even romantic relationships. They go on trips, and have family and caring staff. Who still make minimum wage. I worked for a great  company for 13 years and still have relationships with many of my former residents. My four children grew up with them. We always had someone home with us on holidays.

"I thought it was going to be really cool, but it wasn't". That was a shot in the heart. God bless them all.

As someone who works with people of special needs, this video needs to Watched be shared.  Respect to them all.  Sad times

I work for “NW Community Alliance” and to be completely honest, I consider this one of the best and influential jobs I’ve ever had. It doesn’t feel like Job, it’s getting the opportunity to learn about such beautiful people, and how I can do my part in awareness, advocacy, and being a voice for those who aren’t heard.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT🙌🏽

It's hard to imagine this place was open until 2000

The cost is still huge. It is just that we don't hear as much about it. Group homes are expensive as are nursing homes. A lot of former Fairview residents ended up on the street. There are abusive situations in those places as well because there are always bad people everywhere.

In the 1990's, my mom worked at an Adult Foster Care home here in Michigan which was actually quite large compared to most. The majority of those my mom cared for back then at this facility were folks that more than likely grew up in these same institutions seen in this video. I recall my mom talking about those who lived there that had no reason at all for ever living in that type of environment other than the fact they just got caught up in the system and had nowhere else to go at that point. The facility my mom worked at was well maintained and those folks were very well cared for. The community around it also got to know the residents who would regularly go for walks to the store etc. I even recall a few residents giving my mom gifts to give to me and these folks didn't even know me but knew she had a young son at home.

Then the lovely government went a step further and tossed salt into these residents wounds from years of being shuffled around by completely cutting funding to these private operators. This in turn caused Medicare/Medicaid payments to stop which then caused the whole facility to close putting these residents either onto the streets or into smaller group homes which were not as well supervised so this caused many of these folks to just spiral downwards on far too many levels where they end up on the sex offender list, on drugs and alcohol, in prison etc.

Omg as a teacher for 34 years working with children with all kinds of disabilities, down syndrome, autistic , some children with rare genetic disorders .This break my heart that they had to live like this.Thank God we have come along way and we still have a long way to go. Hopefully they have found peace where ever they are.

EVERYONE DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT AND THOSE WHO HAVE MENTAL DISABILITES NEED TO BE TREATED RESPECT AND THEY ALSO HAVE FEELINGS THEY WANT LOVE LIKE EVERYONE

Thank you for posting this. Disability rights is something I’m very passionate about as a person that would’ve been institutionalized if I had been born just a few decades earlier. We still have a lot of work to do but I hope that people learning about our history will help them understand that.

I worked for two years at a school for mentally disabled adults (that was the politically-correct term back then). I can say with 100 percent honesty that it was a wonderful place. It was not residential, rather a day school. The students, ranging in age from 19 to 71, were taught music, hygiene, some kitchen skills and reading, writing, etc.,  according to their capabilities. We had field trips to zoos, parks, movies, restaurants. It was a Christian-staffed school, and the students were treated, always, with love, respect and patience. My time there honestly changed my life.

Thank God for parent advocates. My son has asp. autism. I'm glad we didnt have him back then. We LOVE him and he makes life joyful. He is 19 now and has always been a sweetheart, loves us, we love him. We will do all we can to make sure he has a happy life. I would never let this happen to him. EVER!