Analysis Of Unspeakable: The Story Of Junius Wilson

Institution is a word that has always had a variety of meaning and as an able-bodied person the word institution has never struck me as anything but a normal word. When I originally defined institution I associated it with things such as an organization or an establishment (Carlson 109). I would have also assumed that these institutions would have fostered a safe environment for those who participated or lived in them. Most of all though, I would have assumed living in any sort of institution would have been either voluntary or it would have a more thoroughly screened process of determining who needed to be institutionalized and who did not. However, after reading Unspeakable: The Story of Junius Wilson by Susan Burch and Hannah Joyner I

While institutionalized Junius Wilson lost the ability to have an ordinary life and do things on his own. Wilson was unable to communicate with those around him and unable to live his life independently, meaning he was not able to make his own choices and have control over his life. His communication skills and language skills suffered drastically due to the isolation that was forcefully imposed on him in the hospital. Junius Wilson’s life in the institution is described as an “absence of sensitive toward deaf people and deaf culture” meaning that those who were supposed to provide care for Wilson simply did not bother to understand him or his culture (Burch 114). The staff at the institution where Junius Wilson was a resident at basically dehumanized him as a person by not bothering to attempt to learn his language or culture. Along with this, the staff did not think that there was a problem with Junius Wilson’s treatment, they just assumed he was happy because “his home was within the walls of the institution” (Burch