July 13th, 2008
No Stigma for Us, Thank You
In yet another example of people distancing themselves from asylum history, the new park in Morris County (made up of 300 acres from the former grounds of Greystone Park State Hospital) will be named Central Park. This fresh and exciting new name was deliberately chosen to avoid stigma related to the hospital’s past. As NewJersey.com reports:
By a 6-1 tally, the freeholders broke from the tract’s history and voted to name the new venue Central Park of Morris County.
“The Greystone name has a stigma attached to it,” said Freeholder John Murphy, referring to decades of patient abuse scandals and finding of sub-standard living conditions at the hospital. “People in the mental health community have urged us to get away from that name. So my thought is, let’s get a fresh start, start a new chapter up there.”
I don’t necessarily blame them for wanting to avoid stigma, but I can’t help wondering: why are these hospitals considered almost completely negative entities? Granted some pretty horrible things have happened at state hospitals, but their history is a lot more complex and varied than those negatives. Why are the positives seemingly ignored? Are they outweighed by the negatives? Or is it not really the state hospitals’ bad aspects that are the issue, but rather that people still see mental illness as something they want to distance themselves from and not be reminded of?
I guess this “stigma” is a lot stronger than any of us would have thought. I too agree that these institutions have a lot more history to them than just the bad parts. If there should be any stigma it shouldn’t fall on the institution itself but to the higher ups in state government that cut budgets and failed to maintain proper due diligence over the institutions they created. It’s a shame history views mental healthcare the way they do. I’m actually more and more in favor of what they are doing in Weston just because they’re really proving a point by keeping the “T.A.L.A.” name!
Someone disagreeing with the idea that Greystone was all bad wrote a follow up:
‘Hideous legacy?’ I don’t think so
And yet another reaction expressing strong disagreement with the name change…
No Name Change for Greystone
Here are a couple more.
Broad Criticism Slap in the Face
Workers, Volunteers Deserve Praise