Trigger warning: Sexual assault
The second section of the reading starts with Ricky talking about sex and locker room talks. Another houseparent, Jerry, makes him uncomfortable with how aggressive his comments are. He ends his section saying “I never told her about Jerry the sex fiend. It’s probably no big deal. Guys like that are all talk for the most part.”(63) In the next section, Mia reveals that Jerry has been sneaking into her room and raping her.
Nussbaum is exposing the reader to the reality of how terribly people can be treated in care facilities, the environment is the perfect hunting ground for predators like Jerry. There are warning signs that something is wrong with Mia; Jimmie finds her bleeding when she already had her period recently, she is constantly tired, and she’s cutting herself off from those she’s closest too. However, no one notices or is trained to notice those warning signs.
Jerry tells Mia “He say nobody gonna belief me. They never belief me”(66) and there is sadly truth to that. A child died there with no real investigation, and no one even believes that Mia needs a powerchair. Jerry is given the benefit of the doubt for his creepy and inappropriate behavior because guys like that are thought to be harmless. There is no protection for these children, there is more protection around who gets to use the elevator. These fake safety guidelines highlight that the ILLC is more concerned with protecting themselves from lawsuits than they are with protecting the kids from predators.
I believe that this was incredibly important to add to the story because these are still issues that disabled people face today. Even if it’s not as extreme as sexual assault(though that still happens) institutions still don’t take proper care of the people in their charges. Rather than sending students to a nurse when they act out because of a medical issue they are sent to the time out room out of spite. The teacher even encourages Ricky to leave the kid alone (which is illegal).
Even the title ‘Good Kings Bad Kings’ is in reference to a case surrounding the death of a disabled kid on a bus who was held down by only one aide and eventually suffocated. The aide said to the kid before he died “I can be a good king or I can be a bad king”. Many of the aids in this story view themselves as kings ruling over these kids when they are really hired to serve them and their needs. The ILLC is already understaffed and funded and yet they keep trying to cut costs and add kids to beds. The for-profit is not working when it comes to long term care, especially when the children aren’t taught independence or money management. In the end, most of them are on track to be shipped from one facility to the next, never given the opportunity to become independent.
I hereby declare upon my word of honor that I have neither given nor received unauthorized help on this work. Elizabeth Wruck
