I saw something quite disturbing in the park today.
Care for people with mental disabilities is something I mostly prefer not to think about. I imagine it is done by people with saintly qualities of compassion and patience. Anyone who would take a group of people with Down’s syndrome and similar problems to the park on a sunny day to enjoy ice creams must rank pretty highly in the pillar-of-the-community stakes, one might think.
As I sat reading my book at the cafe in the park, intruding into my consciousness was what at first seemed to be what might be termed “bad parenting”. You know the sort of thing. Barked orders: “Get here now!! If you don’t behave this instant we’re going home!” Looking up, I saw the group of people with Down’s syndrome and similar, all in their 40s and 50s, being supervised by a boy and girl of about twenty years old. I observed them for about twenty minutes.
Never did they display any kindness or compassion. One of their charges must have misbehaved and was getting a lecture about how he had “violated” his “contract”. When he protested, not particularly loudly, he was told not to raise his voice. The whole group was repeatedly threatened with being sent home, in much the same way that bad parents make empty threats, but this clearly upset the rest of the group. One of the women got up and started walking away, and she was shouted at and told to “get here” and “sit down”. When she did sit down on the bench she was repeatedly told to “turn round and face the table” under threat of not getting any ice cream.
The chastisement never seemed to stop. Instead of a kindly, “don’t eat food off the table, dear, it’s dirty” I heard barked retributions of, “that’s disgusting; do you know what’s on this table? Do you? Pigeons poo on this table; do you know what people have been here before you? Do you know what they have done? Do you? Well do you? No? So don’t eat off the table then!”
There were endless ultimatums. “You can do as you’re told or you can go home, it’s your choice.” Every aspect of behaviour was controlled. “Sit there. Stop rubbing your arm. Sit still. Turn around.”
At first I had thought they were volunteers, but then I heard the boy saying, “I’m on shift tomorrow, and I’m going to make sure you can’t join the rest of the group. Why? Because of your behaviour, that’s why. You’ve taken other people’s stuff, and been moaning and groaning.”
At which point I was on the verge of pointing out that I would be moaning and groaning if I’d had to put up with the endless, pointless chastisement and, frankly, bullying all day long. But being out with a pregnant wife changes your priorities somewhat; today was not a day for getting into an altercation with someone I seriously doubted would be open to a reasoned debate on approaches to caring for the mentally handicapped.
I get the distinct impression that the “carers” got a thrill from the power they had over these poor unfortunates. They enjoyed making the threats, being mean, asking what the supposedly delinquent man was going to do tomorrow and then telling him he wouldn’t be able to because he’d been naughty. He probably didn’t understand; they were being mean to punish him. Finally they sent him away. “Go on then, you can go off on your own if you want.”
I feel somewhat weak for not — as the group departed and the “carers” were taunting the old man with jibes of “who are you?”;”you’re not with us any more”;”why are you following us?” — getting up and giving someone a punch.
I have no idea what organisation they were working or volunteering for. As they were so bad at their jobs I can only surmise that this is the kind of state “care” that children are so often subjected to. Presumably it is such an undesirable job that it’s very hard to find people willing to do it well. So it’s predictable, but disturbing nonetheless to see, and here I am writing about it, but not doing anything about it, from my comfortable middle class life.
But there are those who *say* they care about disadvantaged people and that the state is the solution and then condemn these people to such miserable institutions and such indifferent “care”. I strongly suspect that the state muscles out private charity and those who genuinely care — after all, they might not have the right qualifications.
It’s often said that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the urge to serve humanity from the urge to rule them.