Separation of the Sexes

I noticed something similar as I walked the halls of the unused older buildings on our campus last week. I suppose they were trying to individualize the rooms for each person by using different colors of paint (we let our folks choose what color(s) they want), but it was weird walking down the hall noticing the same incredible variations in room colors for adjacent rooms. Since the section of campus that is in use has many rooms in the same suite that are painted different colors, I am guessing that this seems more blatant when there is no furniture or curtains to give each room a "theme."

oh oh oh oh oh oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

even the color of light coming out of the rooms are different, way awsome.

OK, so tonight I was doing my monthly living area monitors to check out the different sections of campus - were staff interacting with all the clients, were there materials available, were gloves locked up so no one could eat any, were the bedrooms decorated in an individualized way, etc., etc. I go to one of my living areas where they are painting the bedrooms and some one has apparently handed the gentlemen who live there a large book with paint chips so they can select a color for their room, and whatever color their finger fell on (since none of them are verbal), that's the color they painted their bedrooms. =8-o

Motts, in 20 years you will come here and photograph this place, and people will be wondering why in God's name there were different bedrooms on a single living area that ranged from mauve to goldenrod to royal blue to fuschsia. =8-o I am still blind from the experience.

Lynne, I think its great that patients get to pick their own room color. It would certainly make the place a bit more personable. And yes, 20 years from now we will be here saying "Now why the heck are all those different colors?"...and Lynne will come by and explain...again...

And the same people will tell me to shut the hell up.

And I'll ignore them again. :-)

Ain't it grand when life gets predictable? ;-)

Lynne, I would like to think this place will be here in 20 years!

Lynne we'd never tell you to shut up, you're always saying such interesting things! ;)

Motts I love the difference in the room colours, the light in one looks like daylight, and the other looks like moonlight.

Who is telling you th hush?

Amen Jude!

ED,
TWENTY YEARS WOULD BE GREAT BUT THAT
OLD BRICK HAS AT LEAST 2000 MORE BARRING
YOU KNOW WHAT.

These photos are visual poetry.

if these people were CARAZY, why wouldent theylet them sleep together do you have a death wish o something??????i mean how stupid do you have to be to not let them sleep together... wellt hey probabley would kill each other first bafore they have... well you get the drift.

KB, educate yourself ... please ... before trying to make a statement about something you obviously know so painfully little about. For our sake as well as your own. Thanks.

Very well put, Serrena. (I was waiting for a Thumpitty-thump from Lynne.....)

Lynne's the Easter Bunny??? Nobody tells me these things, darn it.

No, no...YOU know what I meeeean...LOL

Yeah, I do; however, you have to admit that the image of a giant bunny with a blonde wig and a labcoat holding a clipboard crossed your mind.

ROFL!!! Stop!!! My co-workers are looking at me funny-like!!!

and the bunny was ......Yellow!
Yep ~Me saw it!

Thanks, y'all - I didn't have time to hit my head - I was too busy pokin' my eyes out so I didn't have to look at it again. Have we given any thought to "most unusual comments" awards this year?

Lynne, I must ask you where your experise originates. Are you a psychologist with a docorate, a councilor with a MA. and MSW. also with a masters, I haven't been able to figure it out. Pehaps a case worker, a direct care person with a whole mess of experience. I for one is really curious. Your a dominate factor in this whole website. Are you a history major, a professor of mental health. One thing you certainly arn't is a shrinking violet. Maybe you owe your fans a semi resume.

Pain in the butt, mostly. :-)

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with a Ph.D. I have a dual emphasis in mental retardation and clinical child psychology. I've worked for many a long year in this field and prefer "hands on" the most because of the incredible nature of the folks I work with (or who work with me, as they often let me know).

Over the most recent 21 years I have worked in 5 different large residential facilities for people with intellectual disabilities. Two of these facilities have subsequently closed after I left and the other three have downsized significantly over the past 20 years. Between 1972 and the present I have also worked in various outpatient clinics, hospitals, group homes, schools, community settings, etc., and consulted with nursing homes and school districts, etc. I was also able to spend some time with the families at the Oklahoma City bombing site and spent several weeks doing Red Cross disaster work at the Pentagon in September, 2001.

I mentioned elsewhere that I have done a lot of investigation and research on the history of the field of mental health, and more specifically, in the areas of intellectual and developmental disabilities. That's what brought me to this site. I was looking up websites that dealt with various facilities such as these across the country when I found Opacity.

I have been a huge fan of Motts' work since I first came here, and I admire him for how hard he has worked to learn about the various workings of the field - the various and sundry exotic pieces of adaptive equipment that are used, the policies and practices that used to exist in the field, and the dramatic changes that have overhauled the entire system the past 20 years. He looks things through and analyzes them - not just condemning with a broad brush, and I especially admire him for this because it would be easy to make all abandoned facilities look like Frankenstein's lab and torture chambers after years of disuse. He doesn't fall for the bathos that so many people seem to enjoy - the pity and horror and fear that they have in themselves which I believe directly relates to how they are afraid they would treat other people in the same circumstances or how they secretly feel about these folks.

I didn't start commenting for a while after I found this site until I saw that many people had done too little reality checking and had learned all their "facts" from the newspaper headlines, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and "The Snake Pit." Not that there isn't some powerful and accurate information in each of these, but the hideously skewed viewpoint they have taints the popular view until it isn't safe to walk down the street admitting you ever had mental health issues ("You must be homicidal") or worked in a residential facility ("You must beat all the patients").

Because I have made my living, in essence, off the suffering and problems of others, I believe I owe a debt back to them and the people who work with them. One way of doing that is to explain what really happens when comments are made publicly or issues are raised, such as occurs at this site. That doesn't mean to excuse it or cover it up, but to ask people to look at it from all sides of the picture.

Motts has been extremely gracious and allowed me to make these comments, and I am forever grateful to him for allowing me to say the things I have said, even though I have not always been particularly gracious in the way I have said them.

How's that? :-)

Your the best Lynne. My hat and my most reguards to for your eloquent comments and understanding for all that has taken place in the years that we have both witnessed and you have so well stated in your many comments. Actually, I feel humbled by your understanding and comprehension of the macro history of mental health/ retardation, but also the details and minituae that also posess. You are a important facet of this site and have made so many people cognizent of what this whole field is about. Thankyou and carry on brave one. Lots of respect.

Just to ellaborate on my last comment. Your expertise absolutely gives you the crendentials to make the photos a living history that will not be recorded in a way that anyone can relate to in the present sense. It takes an articulate person with your experience and focus to details to pull this off. You bring in people that would never understand what it was all about unless you anserwed the questions that was asked of you. You come off as an historian, a compassionate devotee of the mental healthj system of this country. My experience has been direct care and essentially management and experienced what was in the 60's, 70's , 80's and the 90's. Worked at Walter E. Fernald in the mid 60's where brutality was the norm of the day. As they used to call a back ward, where the stench of urine and feces were the norm of the day. Where the temp. hovered around 62 in the winter and in the summer was whatever the temp was outdoors. Poor pathetic folks who had no chance but to live in conditons that might equal the death camps in Nazi Germany. They were abused, they were treated as non persons and worse. I live somewhat with guilt that witnessed but I was young and a novice and was told in no uncertain terms to go along with the program. I then took a job at Mass Mental Health in Boston which was a very progressive mental facilty where Harvard psych students afficliated. The difference between the two was outstanding. Only the classic cases of mental health were accepted and the staff was an integral part of a progressive program. I then worked at Boston State Hosp. on an ward that took care of the mentally/physically ill. Again, a lot more abuse but also with staff that went out of there way to accomendate the poor souls who needed so much compassion beyond the capabilities that most people had at that time. My next job was at N.S.H. for an extended time. I have made so many comments of how I feel about the old place and how I so appreciate Motts photos because it brings back so many memories for better or worse. After I retired from all the things I had seen I took a job in Florida at Sarasota Fla. in a small psych hosp. in Sarasota that we called a theraputic community. All compassion and understanding. The mental health history has been long tortusous and so archaic, but as long as the folks who know what it' s all about and relate it to the wonderful folks who comment on this website, progress is being made. Thanks, Lynne and Motts for the wonderful photography and Lynne for documenting every photo in a way that has illuminated the commentators.

Hi Lynne,
Okay I just asked if you had a PhD on another post and then I read this. You sound like such a caring and interesting person. You seem to love your job although I reckon it must be hard at times. The damaged human mind is one of the sadest things and I applaud you for doing your best to help these people.

By the way--that is so sweet about letting patients choose their room color! So how many colors did they have to chose from?
What's the most outrageous color you've seen in a patients room?

I really like the contrast in this photo, it's beautiful. I'm certainly glad they let the patients pick the colours, it adds a touch of warmth and humanity to something that (from my outsider point of view) seems like it would be cold or inhuman. Very nice, I've had an epiphany, I think!

Cudos, Lynne-I'll be a player on your team any day! I've been RN for 36yrs & have done the early psych stuff at Kalamazoo State Hosp (late 60's). I had tunnel vision going into that place. Can remember the primitive cage like cells on 3rd floor for women. Can remember ECT, read about lobotomies & have taken care of a few who had been victums of that cruel surgery. But bottom line- there is a fine line between sanity & insanity!

Lynne,
You are a fine human being .May we all have such compassion, understanding and mercy for such less fortunate peoples. (as well as all people) You are a true rarity amongst us all!

i can just imagine the boy and girl in each of these rooms being a couple, and at night time placing their hands on each side of the wall longing to see each other again.

i'm a hopeless romantic.

stunning shot motts! very cool