The truth of Bugboy
I thought, in light of some readers commenting on the characters in the group home scenes being unrealistically cruel, that I would provide some background for why they act so mean.
Unfortunately the stuff in that book happened mostly the way I lived it (the group home stuff, obviously, not the supernatural jazz). After college I went to work in a group home for a year in south Rhode Island in order to save money to move to NYC. We had some bad caretakers in that house, and two that were borderline physically abusive and certainly mentally abusive to people who were developmentally disabled. I witnessed it a few times but by then they'd already been reported by other people. They were found out and quit before it became something bigger...but it happened. (The worst incident I remember was an autistic non verbal, incontinent man with PICA being put to bed without his diaper. They found him in his room in the morning eating his own shit. He had also smeared it all over the walls, curtains, his bed linens, etc. The man responsible for this treatment quit after others exposed him for other abusive behaviors including holding clients down and giving them noogies.)
The company I worked for was not to blame. The people who ran the company and who managed the houses were incredibly dedicated to helping the clients and to never having a repeat of the Ladd years (see next paragraph). It's not their fault bad seeds got through the interview process. Sometimes it's the cruelest people who come across as the friendliest in an interview. We've all heard someone say,"But he seemed like such a nice guy," at some point in our life.
Also in the book is an allusion to an older group home facility full of much more abuse. This was based on the infamous Ladd School in Exeter RI, which was shut down due to scandals of reprehensible abuse and cruel living conditions for mentally challenged people. One of the client's in the house I worked in did in fact come from the Ladd Center (or so I was told), and it's no wonder he got upset one day and bit me so hard I had to to go the hospital. It was how he learned to survive in Ladd. I didn't blame him. I quite liked him, in fact. Needles to say he was not punished in any way. You can read about the horrible conditions they suffered on this site: The Ladd School. I have been to the Ladd School's abandoned homes many times in my life--as a teenager, my friends and I used to explore their remains on boring weekends. It was beyond creepy. Out in the woods near some old graveyards, nothing else around for miles.
I must mention that there were people, including my friend's mother, who worked at the Ladd Center and tried to expose the truth to the detriment of their own safety. I believe my friend's mother found her tires slashed on a few occasions for speaking out against the injustices. This was in the years just before all Ladd facilities in the state were shut down in 1994.
Anyway, I just wanted to mention the background info I used for some of those characters and situations. If any of you get around to reading it, whether you like the book or not, just know those parts are true. Sadly. I wish they weren't.
And now for a happy thought...kittens!
Unfortunately the stuff in that book happened mostly the way I lived it (the group home stuff, obviously, not the supernatural jazz). After college I went to work in a group home for a year in south Rhode Island in order to save money to move to NYC. We had some bad caretakers in that house, and two that were borderline physically abusive and certainly mentally abusive to people who were developmentally disabled. I witnessed it a few times but by then they'd already been reported by other people. They were found out and quit before it became something bigger...but it happened. (The worst incident I remember was an autistic non verbal, incontinent man with PICA being put to bed without his diaper. They found him in his room in the morning eating his own shit. He had also smeared it all over the walls, curtains, his bed linens, etc. The man responsible for this treatment quit after others exposed him for other abusive behaviors including holding clients down and giving them noogies.)
The company I worked for was not to blame. The people who ran the company and who managed the houses were incredibly dedicated to helping the clients and to never having a repeat of the Ladd years (see next paragraph). It's not their fault bad seeds got through the interview process. Sometimes it's the cruelest people who come across as the friendliest in an interview. We've all heard someone say,"But he seemed like such a nice guy," at some point in our life.
Also in the book is an allusion to an older group home facility full of much more abuse. This was based on the infamous Ladd School in Exeter RI, which was shut down due to scandals of reprehensible abuse and cruel living conditions for mentally challenged people. One of the client's in the house I worked in did in fact come from the Ladd Center (or so I was told), and it's no wonder he got upset one day and bit me so hard I had to to go the hospital. It was how he learned to survive in Ladd. I didn't blame him. I quite liked him, in fact. Needles to say he was not punished in any way. You can read about the horrible conditions they suffered on this site: The Ladd School. I have been to the Ladd School's abandoned homes many times in my life--as a teenager, my friends and I used to explore their remains on boring weekends. It was beyond creepy. Out in the woods near some old graveyards, nothing else around for miles.
I must mention that there were people, including my friend's mother, who worked at the Ladd Center and tried to expose the truth to the detriment of their own safety. I believe my friend's mother found her tires slashed on a few occasions for speaking out against the injustices. This was in the years just before all Ladd facilities in the state were shut down in 1994.
Anyway, I just wanted to mention the background info I used for some of those characters and situations. If any of you get around to reading it, whether you like the book or not, just know those parts are true. Sadly. I wish they weren't.
And now for a happy thought...kittens!
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