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Home Sweet Home???: Fixing Group Homes For Human Beings Who Have Special Needs, Erik N. Weber

Erik N Weber

When I was five years old, doctors who evaluated me for my autism told my parents to put me in an institution for the rest of my life. The doctors saw no hope; they just saw me as something to be warehoused. My parents did put me in an institution, which was college. My lifelong pursuit to help others with special needs to be treated with dignity began when I went with a Christmas Carol choir to sing Carols at a state hospital (“institution”). I saw patients strapped to chairs; they were lethargic, drooling, and no staff were in the …