The era of institutionalization was rife with horror, and deinstitutionalization + the rise of community care has allowed millions to live more independently with dignity over decades
I hate these eugenicist fascists with every drop of blood in me
I hate these eugenicist fascists with every drop of blood in me
July 25, 2025 at 1:38 AM
The era of institutionalization was rife with horror, and deinstitutionalization + the rise of community care has allowed millions to live more independently with dignity over decades
I hate these eugenicist fascists with every drop of blood in me
I hate these eugenicist fascists with every drop of blood in me
And, yeah, a major outcome of deinstitutionalization without funding replacement community-based service infrastructure has been increased numbers of unhoused Disabled people.
But the failure isn't deinstitutionalization.
6/
But the failure isn't deinstitutionalization.
6/
March 15, 2024 at 10:59 PM
And, yeah, a major outcome of deinstitutionalization without funding replacement community-based service infrastructure has been increased numbers of unhoused Disabled people.
But the failure isn't deinstitutionalization.
6/
But the failure isn't deinstitutionalization.
6/
Was the deinstitutionalization movement a mistake in America?
(The deinstitutionalization movement shifted mental health care from state hospitals to community-based services.)
(The deinstitutionalization movement shifted mental health care from state hospitals to community-based services.)
December 27, 2024 at 7:00 PM
Was the deinstitutionalization movement a mistake in America?
(The deinstitutionalization movement shifted mental health care from state hospitals to community-based services.)
(The deinstitutionalization movement shifted mental health care from state hospitals to community-based services.)
Yes, and to realize that deinstitutionalization was a national thing because of the ghastly conditions in mental hospitals. Reagan, I promise you, did not convince the liberals of Massachusetts to close down its state asylums.
I am no fan of Reagan, but some folks really need to read up on the history of the relationship between psychiatric care and public policy.
May 13, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Yes, and to realize that deinstitutionalization was a national thing because of the ghastly conditions in mental hospitals. Reagan, I promise you, did not convince the liberals of Massachusetts to close down its state asylums.
Have been seeing this clip go around today, and I think most americans are unaware of the history of deinstitutionalization … Just how deliberately blue states and cities were filled with people whom our society failed (by essentially just ending our public mental health infrastructure) …
Anand Giridharadas: Cities are very unfairly labeled as these 'problem centers' by Donald Trump. One thing worth remembering is a large chunk of those people who end up in cities were failed in other parts of this country. We are holding a lot of your people who you failed to love and take care of.
October 6, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Have been seeing this clip go around today, and I think most americans are unaware of the history of deinstitutionalization … Just how deliberately blue states and cities were filled with people whom our society failed (by essentially just ending our public mental health infrastructure) …
New, from me:
John Boehner once described Jim Jordan as a "legislative terrorist."
Today, Jordan will again seek to lead the House. His rise as a candidate signals how the Republican Party has shifted focus from governing to deinstitutionalization.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-legislat...
John Boehner once described Jim Jordan as a "legislative terrorist."
Today, Jordan will again seek to lead the House. His rise as a candidate signals how the Republican Party has shifted focus from governing to deinstitutionalization.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-legislat...
A "legislative terrorist" tries to become Speaker
Jim Jordan as a symptom of the deinstitutionalization project
donmoynihan.substack.com
October 18, 2023 at 12:27 PM
New, from me:
John Boehner once described Jim Jordan as a "legislative terrorist."
Today, Jordan will again seek to lead the House. His rise as a candidate signals how the Republican Party has shifted focus from governing to deinstitutionalization.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-legislat...
John Boehner once described Jim Jordan as a "legislative terrorist."
Today, Jordan will again seek to lead the House. His rise as a candidate signals how the Republican Party has shifted focus from governing to deinstitutionalization.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/a-legislat...
Who guessed that Reagan's deinstitutionalization of the 80s would resonate so strongly 40 years later?
November 17, 2024 at 11:02 PM
Who guessed that Reagan's deinstitutionalization of the 80s would resonate so strongly 40 years later?
deinstitutionalization was a mistake
A group with Trump’s Faith Office praying and speaking in tongues at the White House
June 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
deinstitutionalization was a mistake
Multiple factors. Deinstitutionalization was a big one - Down's syndrome kids suffered horrendous neglect in a lot of cases, because parents were told to institutionalize them early. They have heart defects early that we are now far better at spotting and treating. Average lifespan has jumped ...
July 14, 2026 at 6:18 AM
Multiple factors. Deinstitutionalization was a big one - Down's syndrome kids suffered horrendous neglect in a lot of cases, because parents were told to institutionalize them early. They have heart defects early that we are now far better at spotting and treating. Average lifespan has jumped ...
This is hugely important reporting on a potentially devastating outcome of the cuts at HHS.
As I was saying earlier today, the history of deinstitutionalization is terrifyingly recent, and this administration is committed to sending disabled people backwards.
As I was saying earlier today, the history of deinstitutionalization is terrifyingly recent, and this administration is committed to sending disabled people backwards.
The Administration for Community Living, housed in HHS, is shutting down. I spoke to disability experts for @motherjones.com about questions they have for what’s next, the services ACL provides, and how this move may lead to more folks being institutionalized. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
RFK Jr. moves to close Administration for Community Living
The shutdown will mean "more people forced into institutional settings."
www.motherjones.com
March 28, 2025 at 9:14 PM
This is hugely important reporting on a potentially devastating outcome of the cuts at HHS.
As I was saying earlier today, the history of deinstitutionalization is terrifyingly recent, and this administration is committed to sending disabled people backwards.
As I was saying earlier today, the history of deinstitutionalization is terrifyingly recent, and this administration is committed to sending disabled people backwards.
I had missed that OLC published a memo that seeks to undercut the legal basis for deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities or serious mental health problems www.justice.gov/olc/media/14...
June 19, 2026 at 5:16 PM
I had missed that OLC published a memo that seeks to undercut the legal basis for deinstitutionalization of people with disabilities or serious mental health problems www.justice.gov/olc/media/14...
I'd blame Reagan and deinstitutionalization, but the institutions were horrifying too.
November 22, 2024 at 11:19 PM
I'd blame Reagan and deinstitutionalization, but the institutions were horrifying too.
And then in 1965 Medicaid got going which helped with deinstitutionalization but there weren't alternative services in place.
Which doesn't really surprise me as a Disabled person paying attention to infrastructure.
3/
Which doesn't really surprise me as a Disabled person paying attention to infrastructure.
3/
March 15, 2024 at 10:57 PM
And then in 1965 Medicaid got going which helped with deinstitutionalization but there weren't alternative services in place.
Which doesn't really surprise me as a Disabled person paying attention to infrastructure.
3/
Which doesn't really surprise me as a Disabled person paying attention to infrastructure.
3/
“The ultimate democratization of education may reside not in its universal availability but in its deinstitutionalization. If this comes to pass, we may find that the fabric of our lives is Canvas.” Uh oh. But look - at least Instructure is being open about its imperial ambitions!
Out of curiosity I wanted to know how the massive LMS Instructure (company that runs Canvas) is using the massive amounts of data it collects on students.
Oh.
(This article is nominally not a press release?)
www.forbes.com/sites/rayrav...
Oh.
(This article is nominally not a press release?)
www.forbes.com/sites/rayrav...
July 20, 2025 at 9:06 AM
“The ultimate democratization of education may reside not in its universal availability but in its deinstitutionalization. If this comes to pass, we may find that the fabric of our lives is Canvas.” Uh oh. But look - at least Instructure is being open about its imperial ambitions!
They're putting what in the what, now?
Look, I'm not saying that deinstitutionalization was a mistake, but I am willing to entertain arguments on the topic.
Look, I'm not saying that deinstitutionalization was a mistake, but I am willing to entertain arguments on the topic.
November 1, 2024 at 12:40 PM
They're putting what in the what, now?
Look, I'm not saying that deinstitutionalization was a mistake, but I am willing to entertain arguments on the topic.
Look, I'm not saying that deinstitutionalization was a mistake, but I am willing to entertain arguments on the topic.
In 2024, about one-quarter (26%) of adults experiencing unsheltered homelessness had a serious mental illness and a similar share had a chronic substance use disorder
www.kff.org/mental-healt...
www.kff.org/mental-healt...
A Look at the New Executive Order and the Intersection of Homelessness and Mental Illness | KFF
This brief describes the new executive order, examines the intersection of homelessness and mental illness, reviews the history of the deinstitutionalization movement, and discusses specialized treatm...
www.kff.org
August 21, 2025 at 2:12 AM
In 2024, about one-quarter (26%) of adults experiencing unsheltered homelessness had a serious mental illness and a similar share had a chronic substance use disorder
www.kff.org/mental-healt...
www.kff.org/mental-healt...
If you're going to listen to one episode of this show make it this one
www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1...
www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1...
Opening : Lost Patients
In the middle of the last century, a movement to free patients from state-run psychiatric hospitals swept the U.S. This movement — deinstitutionalization — is widely blamed for seriously mentally ill ...
www.npr.org
April 2, 2024 at 8:03 PM
If you're going to listen to one episode of this show make it this one
www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1...
www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1...
By the time of the MHSA repeal in 1981, deinstitutionalization and closure of mental hospitals had been a thing for at least 15 years, but probably because Reagan used the Time Tunnel to travel around the states in the early 1960s and got JFK to sign a bill in 1963
I am old, although I was in high school at the time. It probably was the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act that I was recalling. But I believe it was the repeal of the Health Systems Act in 1981 by Reagan that led to the closing of mental heath care facilities.
December 29, 2025 at 7:51 PM
By the time of the MHSA repeal in 1981, deinstitutionalization and closure of mental hospitals had been a thing for at least 15 years, but probably because Reagan used the Time Tunnel to travel around the states in the early 1960s and got JFK to sign a bill in 1963
Pretty wild to see decades of success of the deinstitutionalization movement and think, "maybe that was a mistake."
June 20, 2024 at 4:59 PM
Pretty wild to see decades of success of the deinstitutionalization movement and think, "maybe that was a mistake."
I've spent the last week going through the archives on New York's institutionalization and subsequent deinstitutionalization and I'll be damned if it's not one of the most depressing things I've ever dug through
May 16, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I've spent the last week going through the archives on New York's institutionalization and subsequent deinstitutionalization and I'll be damned if it's not one of the most depressing things I've ever dug through
Deinstitutionalization without community supports is almost as American as over-incarceration.
March 11, 2024 at 5:53 PM
Deinstitutionalization without community supports is almost as American as over-incarceration.
After the deinstitutionalization movement began in California in the 1960s, many state mental health hospitals closed, forcing many folks who needed a lot of care onto the streets.
April 23, 2026 at 2:33 AM
After the deinstitutionalization movement began in California in the 1960s, many state mental health hospitals closed, forcing many folks who needed a lot of care onto the streets.
This is why I like to say that deinstitutionalization never really happened. We went through lateral reinstitutionalization, warehousing people in jails instead of asylums.
Or you’re using incarceration as a surrogate for housing, for education, for mental health assistance, for anything that gives communities hope.
November 24, 2023 at 11:48 PM
This is why I like to say that deinstitutionalization never really happened. We went through lateral reinstitutionalization, warehousing people in jails instead of asylums.
New, from me: the grilling of the FBI Director, a Republican, by other House Republicans included a range of bizarre accusations.
Its a small but notable data point, reflecting a broader project of deinstitutionalization. https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-deinstitutionalization-project
Its a small but notable data point, reflecting a broader project of deinstitutionalization. https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-deinstitutionalization-project
The deinstitutionalization project
We can't govern based on a anti-statist philosophy and conspiracy mongering
donmoynihan.substack.com
July 16, 2023 at 6:57 PM
New, from me: the grilling of the FBI Director, a Republican, by other House Republicans included a range of bizarre accusations.
Its a small but notable data point, reflecting a broader project of deinstitutionalization. https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-deinstitutionalization-project
Its a small but notable data point, reflecting a broader project of deinstitutionalization. https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-deinstitutionalization-project
no YOU were crying on the Williamsburg Bridge bike path yesterday listening to this
www.npr.org/2024/04/08/1...
www.npr.org/2024/04/08/1...
The Way Out : Lost Patients
After 10 months at Washington State's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam Aurand is discharged onto the streets of downtown Seattle — ejected into a world shaped by decades of deinstitutionalization an...
www.npr.org
April 12, 2024 at 11:49 AM
no YOU were crying on the Williamsburg Bridge bike path yesterday listening to this
www.npr.org/2024/04/08/1...
www.npr.org/2024/04/08/1...