"Ridge Home for Mental Defectives"

[ CW: Historically, the treatment of people with invisible disabilities by institutions, policies and society, has often been inhumane. Examples cited in this piece, though not gory, may be unsettling to some.]

"Ridge Home for Mental Defectives – Are You a Mental Defective?":

Do I belong in a cage because I have invisible disabilities (IDs)? Should I be abused under the guise of “caretaking" that I do not require?  Should I be jailed, even if I did not commit a crime, soley because I live with #TBI, am #ActuallyAutistic and have other #InvisibleDisabilities. Do I belong locked away from sunshine and society? Am I mentally incompetent or a “Mental Defective”? That’s exactly what so many others with invisible disabilities were categorized as, and subjected to, in a part of Colorado's dark history.

“The Ridge State Home and Training Center for Mental Defectives ”, and some state laws that still existed in just the last decade, are only two examples of some of the barbaric practices.  Some of the articles linked below even demonstrate #stigmatude with use of words like “inmates" and the mental “R" slur.  People with downs syndrome are not the “R" word and those with invisible disabilities and mental health chalenges, are not defectictives.

Did you know, if you were having a mental health crisis, that you could be jailed in Colorado if there was no room in medical facilities?  That law was recently changed and funding from cannabis tax revenues was redirected for that purpose but, in some places, it still occurs.  Colorado law gives officials 28 days to get people with such experience proper treatment and placement but, in some cases people with invisible disabilities spent six months incarcerated without even an evaluation.  Is it any wonder that many do not want to ask for help?

So, what about the home for “Mental Defectives ”? My blood boils and I cringe everytime I hear that name… “Mental Defective", as if we are a broken toy or a factory second.  We are people with health issues just like someone with cancer or diabetes.  What if your loved one was locked away because they had #covid?

In 1909, Colorado chose 310 acres just west of Arvada to establish the “Ridge State Home and Training Center for Mental Defectives”.  The wording in the “Golden History” link below refers to residents as “inmates" and cites the first such “inmate” arrived in July, 1912. By 1936, the Ridge Home’s capacity of 300 was already at 260 people with IDs, many of which, were “exiled” and abandoned by their own families.

I will surely expend my generous character limit if I give all of my thoughts, so I will give just a few of the low-lights.

The 1937 newspaper headline in the image below claimed that “Everyone”s Happy at Ridge Home for Mental Defectives".  This propaganda is easily refuted by many accounts of actual occurrences at Colorado’s “prison” for people with ID and Mental Illnesses.

Aside from residents being forced to work on the “Ridge farm”, other abuses and atrocities were common.  One employee was charged with crimes of abuse against multiple residents after he bragged about his deplorable actions to friends.  The only means of release was by transfer to relative’s homes, to the so called “asylum” in Pueblo or death.

In the 1940s, the facility practiced “forced sterilization” of people with invisible disabilities, which some feel was a  attempt at a form of genocide.

In the 50s, stories of underfunding, overcrowding and abuse began to surface.  One administrator was quoted in a news article saying that many held captive in “Ridge” were “much too competent” to be in the home but, laws and family abandonment kept them there.

In the 1970s, fire safety issues, cracked walls and foundation caused part of the facility to be closed by order of the state. There were no proper fire exit routes, and not even a single fire escape.  In the 80s reports of neglect allegedly due to funding and staffing problems came to light.

As recently as the 1980s, “time outs” for those with behavioral issues resulted in some being put in cages.  One report cites a child was caged for nine month with only a bucket and a mattress. Others were said to be packed in wet sheets and ice for acting up.  Does that sound like treatment that will improve mental health, or torture that would make matters worse?

From Denver ABC 7:
“They were so mistreated. It just wasn’t right,” said Rhonda Sherill, who said she worked at Ridge in the 1980s. “Some of them would be put in what they call time out, which was basically a cage they would put him in until they weren’t combative.”

Eventually, this “section of hell" disguised as a medical facility was closed and sat abandon for years. Now, mostly demolished, “Ridge Home and Training Center for Mental Defectives” is the site of apartments and shops.

I personally would rather be homeless and not shop than to step one foot on those grounds. One can only imagine the horrors that these individuals must have lived but, one thing is apparent: Everyone was not happy at "Ridge Home for Mental Defectives."

Sadly, despite these changes, there is still much work to be done in bringing people living with invisible disabilities and mental illness “out of exile".

OutOfExile_IDR © 2022

https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/memories-remain-of-abandoned-state-hospital-that-spawned-eerie-stories

https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/spooky-history-arvadas-ridge-home

https://disabilitylawco.org/mental-illness-protection-and-advocacy-program

https://www.mentalhealthcolorado.org/colorado-jails-wont-used-hold-mentally-ill/

https://www.asylumprojects.org/index.php?title=State_Home_and_Training_School_for_Mental_Defectives

Golden History - 303-278-3557:  
https://www.goldenhistory.org/places/ridge-home/

Pictures:
http://www.coloradoaerialphoto.com/pow.cgi?POW_ID=63