Thank -you Lynn. Carry on the fight brave woman. I gave up arguing with the know -it-alls. I would never had guessed that 20+ years after this silly window shade was painted that such narrowmindedness (is that actually 1 word) would still be rampant. Mona Lisa are you related to Orchard Lunar because your comments are so similiar. She seems to have slithered off somewhere probably annoying some other message board. Maybe you should join her.
And hey Lynn.....you do know alot.. Plus you have the experience of actually working in different places. I would consider the opinion of someone with first hand knowledge over any magazine,TV. or newspaper article anyday. Rant on all you want.Maybe one of these empty heads will finally get it. I doubt it but maybe..........

Sure, go ahead. You seem reasonably sane...can't be all that outrageous.

ARGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! HELLO, can't you people read?

Ok , I took a look at the pictures , didn't find them all that disturbing and also looked at the newsreel , although I could barely make anything out. I worked at Pennhurst from 1975 until 1986 and although some of the pictures were what Pennhurst was like when I started it was not like that when I was layed off. Renovations had occurred and large sleeping areas were now cubicles with usually 2 to a cubby. Better furniture,etc. Look, I'm not saying Pennhurst was an ideal place to be and at times probably was a hell hole but what I am saying is that when Pennhurst closed it was nothing like these pictures that get everyone so upset. It changed with the times just like everything else. Anyway I'm done now. Believe what you want.

This is the last time I'm going to defend my position Orchard Lunar, because you obviously know everything. I don't know why this ex resident wrote what he wrote. He is retarded right? Maybe he was influenced to write what he did. Maybe it was all true, I honestly do not know. I'd like to know the name of the site with these terrible pictures. Pictures don't lie but captions sometimes do. I'd like to see what's got you so upset though. I'd like to remind you that you were making some bizaar comments about this picture, so sure some poor ex resident painted it. So pictures can be misleading.

You are absolutely right. There are 2 sides to every story and one side of the story has sadly been misrepresented. The closing of Pennhurst was all about politics. The State of Pa no longer wanted to be in the business of caring for the mentally retarded. These lawsuits were absurd and could have been won by the state if they chose to put the money into fighting them They took a way out which was costly but not as costly as to continue to run large institutions. There is much you do not know about working in understaffed institutions. Unfortunately the staff never got to defend themselves against accusations that simply were not true. Reporters can write what they want, put their own slant on things...this is nothing new. This was the start of sensationalism journalism. The reason why many people who worked at Pennhurst say it wasn't that bad is because it wasn't. The people that worked there were not ogres ready to punce on poor defensless people. If you believe that you are sadly misinformed.