March 19, 2026 - 16:29
Throughout this book, I am noticing how the people who own and are higher up at ILLC are the ones who see the patients/ inhabitants as numbers, $300 a bed. This seems to tie in to general healthcare issues, where hospital CEOs and hedge funds that so often buy hospitals in financial crisis are only in it for the profit. Something that should be based on care and thoughtfulness becomes an opportunity to line the pockets of a select few with money. Jimmie, Ricky, and Joanne are so often the most caring and understanding people at ILLC, while they get paid so little to do so! With this profit-first mentality, the patients suffer, like the horrible time-out room, the power wheelchair shortage, understaffed nights, and poor meals. The time-out room, in specific seems so cruel. In my project research, I found the use of “escape spaces” particularly interesting. Rather than punishing someone who is clearly either overstimulated or upset, a space is available for them to be in that is low stimulation and calming. Instead of this room emulating solitary confinement, a space should be provided that simply allows time to breathe and be with oneself.
Much of the rest of this reading hammers in the idea of disposability that disabled people are often treated with. Being referred to as “beds” in the ILLC board meetings was the most striking example of this in this reading. It highlights the way that ILLC is treated as a warehouse for the state as a way to offload disabled people. This reminds me of underfunded nursing homes and how they often become used as a way to ignore the aging population. It seems to be a common theme that once a bigger corporation takes control of something that requires care and intentional action, the foundations of the institution begin to unravel. Teddy’s situation is an example of this because he is being shipped off to the next available bed that Whitney Palms controls, which happens to be in a nursing home (at age 22!!!). This is not at all what he needs or wants; it is just seen as a very convenient option to the faceless heads of Whitney Palms corporation. These intentional examples of real-life societal issues in this book are necessary and highlight things that I would have otherwise not heard about.