: Dan Tomasulo
: American Snake Pit Hope, Grit, And Resilience in the Wake of Willowbrook
: Stillhouse Press
: 9781945233036
: 1
: CHF 10.50
:
: Biographien, Autobiographien
: English
: 200
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
'We have a situation that borders on a snake pit.' - Robert F. Kennedy In 1987, following a public outcry about its questionable medical practices, Staten Island's Willowbrook State School for people with intellectual disabilities closed its doors for good. Flat broke and almost finished with graduate school, Dan Tomasulo -- now a core faculty member at Columbia University's Spirituality Mind Body Institute -- was hired to relocate Willowbrook's most severely disabled inhabitants into a groundbreaking community-based group home. American Snake Pit is the story of the disregarded souls who ended up in Tomasulo's care; of the eccentric, resilient staff who helped make such a momentous success possible; and, most of all, of one man's persistent struggle to give voices to those who could not advocate for themselves.
PRAISE FORAMERICAN SNAKE PIT
“Tomasulo’s memoir gives a voice to those who otherwise wouldn’t have one. It reaches into the very heart of what is possible when people are given support, compassion, and an opportunity to thrive.”
Scott Barry Kaufman, author ofUngifted andWired to Create (with Carolyn Gregoire)
“Dan Tomasulo’s tale of hope and grit explores a dark blemish in American history, re-framing the narrative—both of his own life and that of his patients—through hard work and compassion, and irrevocably altering the civil rights discourse about how we care for the most severely intellectually disabled in this country. If you want people to change for the better, you have to change their situation.American Snake Pit shows with courage and compassion how this can be done. From my viewpoint, this is the formula for hope.”
Philip Zimbardo, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, and author ofThe Lucifer Effect
“A compassionate, funny, fictionalized (but no less real) account of what happened when newly minted psychologist, ‘Dr. Dan,’ was put in charge of transitioning six intellectually disabled people from an abusive, overcrowded institution to a community home. But who is really in charge? Earnest and clueless Dr. Dan? The challenging and crafty residents? The ex-con cook? The wise-cracking sexy secretary? The no-nonsense seasoned staff? Or the mayor and fire chief who scheme to get the home out of their town? High jinx and pathos ensue as these disparate characters learn to get along.”
Marie Hartwell-Walker, Ed.D. and author ofUnlocking the Secrets of Self-Esteem
“Equally harrowing and transcendent in its telling, Tomasulo’s revealing tale balances on the boundary of what it is to be human, and to endure with dignity and compassion.”
Barnet Bain, Core Faculty, Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University; author ofThe Book of Doing and Being; and producer,What Dreams May Come
“Tomasulo has done something re