Description: This ethnographic study of deinstitutionalization explores the lives of women living in a locked ward within an institution for people with intellectual disabilities. Johnson describes in rich and carefully-observed detail the lives of the women in the institution largely through their own stories and experiences. The closure of this institution gave her a unique opportunity to closely examine the impact of deinstitutionalization on these women, and the book explores the paradoxical discourse of rights and management that is part of this process.
Review Quotes: '... absorbing and confronting ... a rare and valuable means for persons not working within the institutional environment to gain some understanding of what happens within such places ... a vivd and remarkably honest account ... a remarkable and valuable work.' Ian Freckelton, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law