ALERT: CNN found the Hidden Horde

[Guest guest]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html

By Cohen

CNN

SEASIDE, Oregon (CNN) -- One day in 1957, when Jeff Daly was 6 years

old, his little sister, Molly, disappeared.

Jeff Daly's efforts to find his sister, Molly, led to a new Oregon

law about records for institutions for the disabled.

Every night at dinner, he would ask his parents the same

question, " Where's Molly? "

Every night, he says, he received the same answer: " Stop asking about

Molly. "

Decades later, Daly learned that his parents had sent Molly to a

state institution nine days before her third birthday. Nearly 50

years later, Daly found his sister and made a documentary about his

search.

" Since the movie, literally hundreds of people have come up to us and

said, 'I had a [relative] that I remember my family talking about

that was sent away. Do you know how we can find out about that

person?' " says Daly. Interactive: Watch Jeff Daly tell more about

his and Molly's story »

An increasing number of people are trying to reconnect with family

members sent to live in institutions decades ago, advocates for the

disabled say. ARC, a national advocacy organization for people with

intellectual and developmental disabilities, has created a new online

family registry and search service, the FindFamily Registry, to help

with such reunions.

Through the registry, the ArcLink, a family services venture

associated with the ARC, is compiling a database of information from

family members seeking loved ones, as well as from caregivers hoping

to find relatives of the people they're caring for. From that

database, ArcLink staff will work to make connections.

To prevent abuse, the ArcLink will carefully screen people seeking

information. When a match is found, both parties will be notified.

It's unknown exactly how many children were institutionalized in the

last century. In 1967, at the height of institutionalization, as many

as 100,000 children were housed in 162 state facilities across the

U.S., according to Charlie Lakin, a professor at the University of

Minnesota who studies the history of institutionalization. Other

experts put the number of institutions as high as 200.

Most of the people sent to institutions had some sort of

developmental disability -- Down syndrome, retardation, cerebral

palsy or autism, for example. Some also were sent to institutions

because they were viewed as " slow. " Many had other kinds of secondary

disabilities, such as being in a wheelchair. In a few cases, able-

bodied people also ended up in state facilities because their

families could not support them financially. Watch a clip from Jeff

Daly's documentary " Where's Molly? " »

Conditions could be horrific, Lakin said. Residents were sometimes

restrained in leather cuffs or straitjackets, overly sedated,

isolated for long periods of time, and in many cases, sterilized.

Many had little or no contact with their families. Read the first-

person story of a mom's love for her disabled son.

Such treatment was considered appropriate. Over the 19th centuries

and 20th centuries, society's treatment of people with intellectual

disabilities changed. From an early mission of training " productive

workers " who would return to their communities, state schools for the

disabled evolved into often overcrowded permanent homes, as fear and

stigma colored public attitudes about people who were different. Many

parents also didn't have the means or support system to keep a child

with a disability at home. There was no " mainstreaming " of children

with disabilities in schools. Interactive: How attitudes toward

people with intellectual disabilities have changed »

In the 1960s, under President F. Kennedy, who himself had an

intellectually handicapped sister, new federal laws boosted funding

for resources and research on intellectual disabilities.

In the 1970s, after a series of lawsuits in federal courts led to a

push toward independent living for people with intellectual

disabilities, the institutions began closing. Most residents were

sent to smaller group homes.

As difficult as it is for modern-day parents to fathom, parents sent

children away under the advice of their doctors, historians

say. " Back then, the standard physician message to parents with a

disabled infant was, 'You can't handle this. Give the baby to the

state, and don't worry about it,' " says Elbert s, president of

ArcLink, which provides information about services and service

providers and technology resources to families of the developmentally

disabled.

FIND A LOST LOVED ONE

If you've lost touch with a loved one who was sent to live in a state

institution for the developmentally disabled, the FindFamily

Registry, a free new online service from the advocacy and support

groups ARC and ArcLink, may be able to help you reconnect.

www.FindFamilyRegistry.org

Bill Lynch, executive director of the Oregon Council on Developmental

Disabilities, says it's hard to appreciate the culture of decades

ago. " There was a lot of shame on the part of these families, " he

said. " There was such a huge stigma to disability. We're still

getting over that. "

Many who try to reconnect do so against the wishes of the parents of

the disabled child, who still feel that shame, s says. " There was

once a motivation on the part of families to dump and forget, " s

says. " The parents made a major life decision decades ago, and now

somebody's questioning that. " But he said when people do reach

out, " that reconnection is pretty precious. "

Molly's medical records indicate that she was born with a club foot

and a lazy eye, which was left blind after surgery. When she was

around 2, records show, doctors amended her diagnosis to " profoundly

retarded, " a characterization that Daly doubts but has no proof to

contradict.

Daly says his father tried to stay connected to Molly and visited her

at Fairview, the Oregon state institution where she had gone to live.

But because Molly became so upset each time he left, the staff asked

him to stop coming, Daly says.

Daly says his own search for Molly, which he recounts in the

documentary " Where's Molly? " was relatively easy. Even though his

parents wouldn't talk about Molly after she left, his father kept

meticulous records. In 2004, after his parents had died, Daly found

the phone number for the group home where Molly was sent after

Fairview closed in 2000.

" He left clues for us. He left us little bits of information that

gave us the ability to find Molly, " he says. " I know he wanted me to

find Molly. "

Cohen is a correspondent with CNN Medical News. Senior

producer Pifer contributed to this report.

[Guest guest]

These are not the Hidden Horde. They are not hidden because they are

already counted. The numbers of those disabled from things other than

autism has remained constant, despite the decade plus increase in the

rate of autism. The hidden horde lie outside of those already counted

with disabilities.

Lenny

>

> http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html

>

> By Cohen

> CNN

>

> SEASIDE, Oregon (CNN) -- One day in 1957, when Jeff Daly was 6 years

> old, his little sister, Molly, disappeared.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Lenny,

Hidden from their families. This guy didn't know what happened to his

little sister until his parents died. Maybe as the neuro-diverse

would like us to believe, there are hundred's of thousands of people

that have been locked up in institutions away from their families.

Look hundreds of people have already contacted this man since he did

this documentary about finding his siter. Now, if we can all believe

most of these missing families members have autism (even if they had

a different diagnosis) it can help support the ND claim that these

people have always been here and as they claim in many cases locked

away in institutions.

Come on Lenny work with me here.

> >

> > http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html

> >

> > By Cohen

> > CNN

> >

> > SEASIDE, Oregon (CNN) -- One day in 1957, when Jeff Daly was 6

years

> > old, his little sister, Molly, disappeared.

> >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

> Come on Lenny work with me here.

Hi ,

I'm all for diplomatically correcting the innocent errors of others,

but in this case ** RUDE BUZZAR SOUND - WRONG! ** (wink)

The ND argument (and other mercury apologists) that the horde is

hidden because of diagnostic substitution is not true based on the

relative constant rates of the non-autistic disabled. When the autism

rate skyrocketed, the other categories should have tanked respectively

if it were diagnostic substitution. They haven't. Which is what I

said in my previous post. The hidden horde, from Blaxill's Hidden

Horde theory, is not hidden from their families. They do not exist.

And CNN cannot find them, unless of course, they get a whole bunch

more advertising from Pharma.

Did you know that " ND " is slang for mosquitoes? SLAP!*

Lenny

* Metaphoric.

> > >

> > > http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html

> > >

> > > By Cohen

> > > CNN

> > >

> > > SEASIDE, Oregon (CNN) -- One day in 1957, when Jeff Daly was 6

> years

> > > old, his little sister, Molly, disappeared.

> > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I agree . I watched the little 2 minute preview on CNN about

the documentary. " Where's Molly " and bawled like a baby listening to

this gentleman talk about his sister and looking at the pictures of

them together since they reunited. All those lost years. I can't help

but look at someone like her and wonder what possible abuse or

neglect she may have suffered over the years at the hands of her

caregivers. I know it is so cyncial to think that I'm sure she

encountered loving ones too (at least I hope).And as you said the

loneliness and isolation.

I'll be watching the documentray tonight, with my box of tissues

feeling thankful that is not how things are today.

Oh I don't for one minute think that the increase in autism is not

real- I hope my post did not come across that way.

> > >

> > > http://www.cnn.

> <http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html>

> com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html

> > >

> > > By Cohen

> > > CNN

> > >

> > > SEASIDE, Oregon (CNN) -- One day in 1957, when Jeff Daly was 6

> years

> > > old, his little sister, Molly, disappeared.

> > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

We used to have a woman attend our local support group meeting and

she wanted information about how to help her 57 year old brother with

autism with dietary changes, supplemetns etc... Because he had been

in the " system " she had no say so or luck in trying to get any of

these things implemented for him. He was on a bunch of high powered

psycho-tropics that she really wanted them to cut back on, but the

doctor would not work with her and the red tape was unbelieveable.

She still attended the meetings seeking information and kept trying

to change the " system " for her brother. I've moved, so I don't know

what happened with that situation but, my heart used to break for her

because she wanted so badly to help him, but she had no power or say

so in what was done with him.

I'll be thinking of you as I watch tonight and I thank you for

sharing your experiences. You and your parents should take comfort in

knowing that you helped more than a few people in need and your

kindness probably went much further than you know. But I understand

it is still so depressing and sad.

PS. I am glad we are always on the same page. I wish my husband would

get with the program! LOL

>

> Oh no, I totally get you realize the increase is there!! I am

always on the

> same page as everything you write. I just thought I would state my

> experience. Although, I don't like talking about it often because

it was a

> really heartbreaking time and it hurts even more now having a son

with ASD.

> I will fight till my dying day not to have him go through what I

saw then.

> Things have changed and I am grateful, but not enough. I wish I

could take

> the biomedical tools I have now back in time to help some of those

very

> special, loving people from those hospitals and group homes. Thank

goodness

> I have them now to try and help my son and I won't stop until I

find the

> whole picture for him. The past is the past but it would be a

crime if we

> didn't learn anything from it.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I read about this family a while back in Readers Digest:

http://www.rd.com/

> > > >

> > > > http://www.cnn.

> > <http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html>

> > com/2007/HEALTH/08/01/wheres.molly/index.html

> > > >

> > > > By Cohen

> > > > CNN

> > > >

> > > > SEASIDE, Oregon (CNN) -- One day in 1957, when Jeff Daly was

6

> > years

> > > > old, his little sister, Molly, disappeared.

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

OK, here is what I don't understand...

The number of people with MR has indeed remained

rather constant, although the overall trend has been a

very slight upward creep.

Autism has skyrocketed.

But according to some " experts " , autism has grown

because of diagnostic substitution, so really autism

is merely better recognized.

But wait, autism used to be called MR by many, and yet

the number of people with MR has not gone down

proportionally to the rise in autism.

And here is where I really get confused...

One of the leading cause of MR has been childhood

diseases, most especially pertussis, measles and

rubella. So our national vaccination campaign has

successfully greatly reduced MR as a result of

controlling these diseases.

But the number of kids with MR has not gone down, and

in fact is very slightly creeping up.

This is all so bewildering. Good thing we have all

those PhD's to tell us what to think.

Re: ALERT: CNN found the Hidden Horde

Posted by: " schaferatsprynet " schafer@...

schaferatsprynet

Wed Aug 1, 2007 12:46 pm (PST)

These are not the Hidden Horde. They are not hidden

because they are

already counted. The numbers of those disabled from

things other than

autism has remained constant, despite the decade plus

increase in the

rate of autism. The hidden horde lie outside of those

already counted

with disabilities.

Lenny

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