“My folks couldn’t come for a while, because where I was just—It hurt me to see them to leave and I got really upset and crying and stuff and they were going to come in and put me in a straitjacket and give me a shot. I finally calmed down, you know, it took me a while, but it was just like they put me there and they went off. It hurt me so bad, you know. It wasn’t my kind of place to be.”
When Maryann Preble was 10 years old, in 1959, her mother died. Maryann was sent to Pineland – she spent the rest of her childhood in the institution. Since leaving Pineland, Maryann found work, a husband, and a life on her own terms. Today, she lives without disability services on her own and is active as a self-advocate in several disability advocacy organizations.
Listen to Maryann’s story below, part of our podcast series “Life On My Own”.
