The savages need to be civilized (for their own good). Paternalism starts with the notion of superiority: We must and can take control of these “subjects” in spite of themselves, in spite of their individual will, or culture and tradition, or their sovereignty. “Paternalism lies at the center of the oppression of people with disabilities. These institutions then can serve as a mechanism of social control and, at the same time, make some people wealthy.” This too has been the history with elderly people and people with disabilities in nursing homes. As we have seen with public housing programs in the United States, the tendency is to warehouse (surplus) people in concentrated sites. The idea that nursing homes are compassionate institutions or necessary resting places has lost much of its appeal recently, but the barrier to defunding them is built on a paternalism that eschews human dignity. The scam is simple: get taxpayers to fund billions of dollars to these institutions which a few investors divide up. Nursing homes are a growth industry that many wealthy people, including politicians, have wisely invested in. It is illogical until one studies the amount of money spent by the nursing home lobby. Another 19,553 disabled veterans also live in institutions, costing the Veterans Administration a whopping $75,641 per person.15 It is illogical that a government would want to pay more for less. There are 150,257 people with mental illness living in tax-funded asylums at an average annual cost of $58,569. In 1992, 77,618 people with developmental disabilities (DD) lived in state-owned facilities at an average annual cost of $82,228, even though it would cost $27,649 for the most expensive support services to live at home. Sixty-three percent of this cost is taxpayer funded. According to the activist disability journal Mouth (1995), there are 1.9 million people with disabilities living in nursing homes at an annual cost of $40,784, although it would cost only $9,692 a year to provide personal assistance services so the same people could live at home. Congress, through Medicare and Medicaid, has created to ensure the profit bonanza of nursing homes. There are also funding disincentives that the U.S. Numerous studies have shown that living at home, in a house or an apartment, is better psychologically, more fulfilling, and cheaper than living in nursing homes.14 Yet these institutions prosper when federal programs that foster living in the community are cut. “Another example, one that touches more people, is the nursing home industry. Nothing About Us Without Us: Disability Oppression and Empowerment “It is possible to identify numerous ways that students with disabilities are controlled and taught their place: (1) labeling (2) symbols (e.g., white lab coats, “Handicapped Room” signs) (3) structure (pull-out programs, segregated classrooms, “special” schools, inaccessible areas) (4) curricula especially designed for students with disabilities (behavior modification for emotionally disturbed kids, training skills without knowledge instruction for significantly mentally retarded students and students with autistic behavior) or having significant implications for these students (5) testing and evaluation biased toward the functional needs of the dominant culture (Stanford-Binet and Wexler tests) (6) body language and disposition of school culture (teachers almost never look into the eyes of students with disabilities and practice even greater patterns of superiority and paternalism than they do with other students) and (7) discipline (physical restraints, isolation/time-out rooms with locked doors, use of Haldol and other sedatives).11”
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