Incarcerate NOT Rehabilitate

In doing this project I had no idea how much things had changed, on the surface, and how very little has been done by way of word usage. We still use terms that denote the disabled person as having created the disability themselves, the phrase “you’ve overcome it” comes to mind most often. Though I know people mean it well, it resonates deeply in the mind of the person who has disabilities.

But what I have noticed even more is that even with laws in place to help disabled people integrate, like the A.D.A. and A.D.E.A., it is rarely enforced and programs that would help those help themselves are constantly under attack by various levels of government. It seems wrong that we pass these laws and yet cut the funding, in favor of other pork-barrel projects, and leave the disabled to fend for themselves.

One thing I have seriously looked at is teens and mental health. With the cut backs from local communities, like Grays Harbor, they are shutting down facilities to help those who may have mental health issues. What happens to those children then? How are we supposed to get them the help they need?

Something is wrong when we start looking at human life through the lens of dollar value. These children could become productive people, if they had the services to help them out, instead, we close these facilities that could help them and they end up on the streets, angry and alone. I spoke with a gentleman who works at a local youth detention center and he spoke of how many have anger issue. When asked if they may have mental health issues he responded with a yes.

How is that morally right? How is it we have become a society that preaches our connection with Christ, and turn our backs on the ones who need help? Once you are in the system you become “institutionalized” and criminality is something you become. But how do you break this old cycle of incarceration for these youth? How do you overcome the prison machine who favors money and jobs over true rehabilitation? I won’t be able to answer that, not in this project, but maybe I’ll do some project later down the road to address this.