Realities of Life in an InstitutionDispelling Misconceptions of Disability

Schreiner, Mary B.

doi:10.5325/pennhistory.89.3.0429

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Research Article| July 01 2022

Realities of Life in an Institution: Dispelling Misconceptions of Disability

Mary B. Schreiner

Alvernia University

MARY B. SCHREINER, Ph.D., is an Alvernia University Professor Emeritus of Education who conducted the interviews quoted in this article during the summer and fall of 2018. An additional picture of Pennhurst’s early days was made possible when she received a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission’s Scholar-in-Residence grant for the summer of 2019 at the Pennsylvania State Archives. Schreiner also prepared “A Guide for Researchers Concerned with Disability” for those who want to utilize the Pennsylvania State Archives in further research. She is a lifelong special educator, advocate, and teacher trainer, now residing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

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Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (2022) 89 (3): 429–444.

https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.89.3.0429

ABSTRACT

Pennsylvania citizens who were residents of Pennhurst, a state institution opened in 1908 for the “feeble-minded” of society, had unique life experiences. These experiences might seem ordinary but are extraordinary until one considers the setting in which they occurred or when one grasps the profound meaning of what happened there. Interviews with survivors of life in this institution, along with close examination of available archival records about others who lived at Pennhurst, yielded stories and memories that unveiled surprising realities about people with disabilities, both yesterday and today.

state institutions, disability, Pennhurst, feeble-minded, epilepsy

2022

The Pennsylvania State University

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Realities of Life in an Institution: Dispelling Misconceptions of Disability

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