Institutionization of Autistics in the past

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I have a feeling a lot of older people with High Functioning Autism (somewhat different to AS) would have been institutionalized as children, mainly because they were either too difficult for their parents to handle, regarded as mentally ret*d or an embarrassment to their families.

I would have been a prime candidate for institutionalization back 40,50 or 60 years ago. I shudder at the thought of those HFA people being institutionalized back in the “Good Old Days”. One cannot imagine how many lives were screwed up by the abuses that when on in this institutions.

Uhhh, the "good old days" are quite a bit sooner than you thing.

My mother was told to insitiutionalize me in 1978. That is alot less than 40 - 60 years ago. I wonder how many auties are in institutions who otherwise would have actually made contributions to society had they not been put into institutions.

Hi newchum,
Your feelings are correct. It's sad but true that this has been done. As for many being put away because they are an embarrassment to their families, one of the most famous families have been guilty of this too. The Kennedy family's oldest sister was not only put in an institution, but labotomized as well to keep her quiet, I'm sure. I have written a memorial blog in her memory online;

http://www.monastic_1.blogspot.com/

On Dec. 10, 2004 we talked about this subject, too. Many new people have joined since. Here is the particular thread that started the thread;

http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ght=#11904

Here’s the link I gave about America’s Deep, Dark Secret;


Louis is correct, this sort of thing still goes on and probably will continue until we can educate people about what autism is, and how it is wrong to lobotomize us, lock us away or like has been reported recently, put us in cages. I wonder how much more can we take?

I narrowly escaped being institutionalized as a child (long before AS was on the books - I am almost 40 now). I only avoided it, though barely, because my mom withheld information from the doctors because she had a feeling that I would be institutionalized for a very long time if she revealed all of my behavior. Of course, not telling the doctors did nothing to help the situation anyhow. My current doctor said that had she not done that I would have been institutionalized for life with schizophrenia and I am DX'd with AS (because of the early language development factor), though my doctor usually refers to me as being autistic.

Edit: My first doctor did recommend that I be sent away, but my mom refused.

Sad, sad, sad. It does make one wonder how many lives were wasted in institutions...

I think many autistics were likely misdiagnosed as Schizophrenic (just like DeepThought mentioned about himself).

Institutionalisation is not a threat that has entirely gone away.

In the 1980's and 1990's the Conservative Government of the day in the UK commenced a program of 'Care in the Community', which meant a dismantling of most the Victorian 'Mental House' establishments. There are still secure psychiatric prison/hospitals; many of which are shrouded by an aura of controversy.

Closer to home, I saw some of my personal records recently (though I have not been able to obtain physical copies; Data Protection act time, I think!), and one of the justifications for putting me in a 'therapeutic community' between the ages of 15 and 19 was that I was deemed to be uncontainable elsewhere and that I would probably end up in an institution for most if not all of my adult life. I suppose they got their money's worth for although my life has amounted to nothing (in spite of promises to the contrary), I have not been in any institution since leaving the last one at age 19.

Many people with Asperger's syndrome experience brief psychotic breaks during adolescence and young adulthood, so the diagnosis of schizophrenia may not always be so far off. However, it is inaccurate in that these episodes are typically brief, not chronic; and the residual negative symptoms of schizophrenia in these cases would actually usually just be the autism.

Certain Schizophrenic behaviors can resemble autism. Before AS/HFA was DX'd officially (at least in the US) the common DX for it was Schizophrenia. It had nothing to do with psychotic episodes in Aspie adolescents, there just wasn't any other DX at that time.

I was never DX'd with Scizophrenia, had I been I WOULD have been institutionalized. The doctor's recommendation was because my parents were unable to control me. He thought I had some behavioral problems, but the more serious things, like destructive and violent behavior during meltdowns was never mentioned to him by my mother. The same doctor (I first saw him when I was 7) now knows everything he wasn't told (my mom has spoken to him a few times in the past year) and concures with the AS DX based on what he remembers of me and what my mom has told him about the things he never knew about.

I know I would've been put away by now.

Why does society always beat down on those who are minorities? Aspies/autistics are no more (or less) dangerous than NTs are, so what's the big deal with institutions? I think the institutions should be kept for people who are a menace to society through their actions.

About 12 years ago I woud have fallen under the "too dfficult to handle category". Despite my parents spending sums of money that I will not publicly disclose on doctors in order to sick it out with me, I very narrowly avoided institutionalization myself because I was becoming too aggressive and also was a suicide risk. Unfortunately, institutionalization is still very frequently used as an easy out for frustrated parents. Even when dealing with legitimate needs to put someone away, there are still no easy answers to ehtical concerns.

This statement really pisses me off. How will institutionalization stop a suicide, other than "mechanically"? People feel suicidal because they hate their life. So will putting them in an abusive mental hospital magically make them love life? I don't think so!! ! In fact, being in an abusive institution will make a suicidal person hate life even more.

Its not about how dangerous they are. Its for people who can't be looked after by others. The parent assumes it will help, so they shove them in. Or they can't handle the problems, so they shove them in an institution.

A point there. Some parents cave to the doctors' threats of what the future holds. Hearing all that doom and gloom, they resign themselves to signing the papers thinking that this "monster" they've created will be too much for them to handle. It almost happened to me. My mom got the "he'll never amount to anything" speech but stood up and took the responsibility of taking care of me. It wasn't easy but somehow, God or otherwise, we made it through. There need to be more mothers like mine.

Psychosis aside, I was refering to the fact that backs in "those days" Schizophrenia was often used as a catchall category for anything they couldn't identify.

Not that this doesn't occur still today, but to a lesser degree.

I should think that many psychiatrists and doctors would be more comfortable issuing a diagnosis of schizophrenia rather than AS/ASD, if only because they are likelier to be more familiar with it.

These days, it probably isn't really even necessary to invoke schizophrenia, when there are PD's that can be used instead.