Text: HR00111 Text: HR00113 Text: HR00100 - HR00199 Text: HR Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. ___
1 2 BY FALLON
1 3 A House Resolution honoring Melvin and Phyllis Yates.
1 4 WHEREAS, throughout history, people with different
1 5 abilities and disabilities have been mistreated and
1 6 misunderstood; and
1 7 WHEREAS, the humanity and dignity of all people
1 8 should be respected, regardless of their apparent
1 9 abilities or disabilities; and
1 10 WHEREAS, Melvin and Phyllis Yates, brother and
1 11 sister, spent the majority of their youth in Glenwood
1 12 State Hospital for the Retarded, even though they were
1 13 not disabled, but rather were the victims of an
1 14 abusive and negligent home life that inhibited their
1 15 mental growth; and
1 16 WHEREAS, as children, Melvin, 5, and Phyllis, 4,
1 17 after living in a hostile household environment, were
1 18 taken by authorities and sent to Glenwood in 1943
1 19 after intelligence tests identified them as
1 20 feebleminded; and
1 21 WHEREAS, in 1956, Melvin and Phyllis, as teenagers
1 22 in the Glenwood institution, underwent sterilization
1 23 without their fully informed knowledge and consent;
1 24 and
1 25 WHEREAS, in 1957, a new Glenwood superintendent,
1 26 Alfred Sasser, discovered that 178 patients, including
1 27 Melvin and Phyllis, were being wrongfully held at
1 28 Glenwood, which Iowa Governor Herschel Loveless called
1 29 "a shame on humanity"; and
1 30 WHEREAS, in the next few years following the
2 1 discovery of the wrongful insitutionalization, about
2 2 90 people were released from Glenwood, including
2 3 Melvin in 1958 and Phyllis in 1960; and
2 4 WHEREAS, Melvin married in 1966 and moved to
2 5 Carrier Mills, Illinois, and, after working in a
2 6 variety of jobs, started a cleaning business with his
2 7 wife in 1989; and
2 8 WHEREAS, Phyllis, for job training with Goodwill
2 9 Industries, moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1960, and
2 10 married in 1968; and
2 11 WHEREAS, Melvin and Phyllis managed to overcome the
2 12 adversity of their past and lead fruitful and
2 13 rewarding lives; and
2 14 WHEREAS, Melvin and Phyllis deserve compassion for
2 15 the mistreatment they suffered many years ago that
2 16 drastically altered their lives; NOW THEREFORE,
2 17 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
2 18 That the House of Representatives honor Melvin and
2 19 Phyllis Yates for their perseverance and courage in
2 20 overcoming the adversity of their past mistreatment,
2 21 and recognize that all people, regardless of their
2 22 apparent abilities or disabilities, should be treated
2 23 with equal respect and dignity.
2 24 LSB 6692HH 78
2 25 rk/cf/24
Text: HR00111 Text: HR00113 Text: HR00100 - HR00199 Text: HR Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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