Exposing Conditions at Willowbrook

Exposing Conditions at Willowbrook. Willowbrook Mile. , Willowbrook State School, the largest facility in the world for people diagnosed with "mental retardation," had been criticized for years. In 1965, Senator Robert F. Kennedy visited and called for an investigation, but no action was taken. In 1971, Staten Island Advance reporter Jane Kurtin published a series of powerful articles revealing the appalling conditions, but no changes resulted. Two Willowbrook physicians , William Bronston and Michael Wilkins , had been meeting with families and staff to mobilize advocates to address the severe problems caused by understaffing and overcrowding. They brought ABC journalist Geraldo Rivera onto the grounds in the middle of the night to film the horrendous conditions. Rivera's 1972 exposé remains the most explosive and realistic television investigation of the cold, stark, inhuman nature of institutionalization. The exposé set the foundation for the Consent Judgement of 1975, establishing that Willowbrook residents had a Constitutional right to be protected from harm a clear cornerstone in the civil rights movement for people with disabilities.