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Visionary Voices: Thomas K. Gilhool Ch 4

Chapter Transcript

Chapter 4: Brother's institutionalization influenced Tom's thoughts on Right to Education Case

LS: Tom, I'm really struck by, well there was so much in the opinion that you just shared, and what you've just discussed, and two words that you talk about keep coming back to me, the idea of these broken ties within families. I don't want to assume, but since your own brother, your brother Bobby was also living in a segregated facility at one point, I'm wondering if your own experience with these broken ties influenced your thinking about this case, or perhaps your drive to succeed in this case?

TG: Oh, absolutely, absolutely! My brother was at Pennhurst from 1954, a year after my father died, and we all moved back to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the early '60s, when he moved from the Whitehaven Institution, and it was in the early '90s that he moved to the community in Pennsylvania, an most particularly in Philadelphia, where he has lived these twenty years since, and by and large had a wonderful time. Yes, that experience informed all of it, as Bob tells me very often, "you and I closed Pennhurst!" (laughs),uh, he's very proud of it all, though he, on occasion, as a year or two ago when some of our Japanese colleagues in the movement came to visit here in Pennsylvania, they very much wanted to see Pennhurst, and I asked Bob if he would like to go and he said, "No way!" In some ways the most revealing expression on his part of, uh, about those years - he had a very dear friend who was at Pennhurst with him, Mary Jane Leonas, who died much too young a few years ago from breast cancer. She had come out of Pennhurst quite early, and living with, along with a couple of other women from Pennhurst, living with a Black family in North Philadelphia. When the Pennhurst trial was on, in the spring of 1977-78, there was a transportation strike in Philadelphia, and she walked everyday from 26th and Lehigh to 6th and Market, which was a goodly number of miles. My brother came down from Whitehaven to sit in on the trial one day and he had no sooner crossed into the threshold, then Mary Jane, who usually sat amongst the Pennhurst employees, on the defense side, uh, saw him and said, "Bob!". And he said, "Mary Jane!" And they took up their relationship again, and were close friends until, until, until she died. But on one Saturday afternoon we were wandering through a bookstore in Philadelphia and it was a bookstore that had a lot of posters, and they both spotted and burst into great gales of laughter a poster of Elvis Presley and Jailhouse Rock. Because it turned out, it was a song of the '50s, and it caused them to call Pennhurst colloquially, Jailhouse Rock. That was their feel about it.

More Interview Chapters

  1. Early Career and Association with PARC
  2. PARC Approaches Gilhool
  3. Right to Education Case
  4. YOU ARE HERE: Brother's institutionalization influenced Tom's thoughts on Right to Education Case
  5. Right to Education Heard in Federal Court
  6. Media and Reaching Diverse Audiences
  7. Fundamental Shift for the Educational System
  8. Meaningful Provisions in Consent Decree
  9. Implementation of Consent Decree
  10. Impact of Right to Education Case on Tom's Career

About Thomas K. Gilhool

Born: 1938, Ardmore, PA
Attorney, Pennsylvania Secretary of Education 1987-1989
Resides in Philadelphia PA and California

Keywords

PARC Consent Decree, Civil Rights, Institutions, Advocacy, Self-advocacy, Families

The Disability and Change Symposium is available as a free online learning module.

Combating Implicit Bias: Employment

Disability and Change 2020 logo

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About this year's theme

Employment statistics for persons with disabilities continue to be disappointing, ~19% compared to ~66% of peers without disabilities. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). We ask ourselves, "is there something beyond overt discrimination and access that perhaps we need to address? Are there silent barriers such as those created by implicit bias?"

Most of us believe that we are fair and equitable, and evaluate others based on objective facts. However, all of us, even the most egalitarian, have implicit biases – triggered automatically, in about a tenth of a second, without our conscious awareness or intention, and cause us to have attitudes about and preferences for people based on characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion. These implicit biases often do not reflect or align with our conscious, declared beliefs. (American Bar Association, Commission on Disability Rights, "Implicit Bias Guide," 2019)

This year's theme challenges us to each ask ourselves "What implicit bias(es) do we have and encounter, and how do we recognize them and move beyond them to create opportunities, welcome, and full participation for all?"

As always, this Symposium privileges first-person voices and experiences.

About the Disability and Change Symposium

The stated goal of the annual Symposium is "to create conversation that transcends any one-dimensional depiction of people with disabilities, and foregrounds the multidimensional lives of our speakers - as writers, educators, performers, and advocates."

The Disability and Change Symposium is a one-day, interdisciplinary conference focusing on cultural equity and disability. The event is free, accessible and open to the public.

Acknowledgments

Organized by the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, the Symposium is an outcome of collaboration with the Interdisciplinary Faculty Council on Disability whose mission is "to foster collaboration across Temple University on disability-related projects including research, teaching, programming, publication, and grant-seeking. By connecting with one another, Council members help build community among the growing number of people at Temple whose work engages with disability."

Core funding for the Disability and Change Symposium is through a grant from the Center for the Humanities at Temple University (CHAT)

We extend our appreciation to Disability Resources and Services for providing Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) and American Sign Language services for the day.

The Institute on Disabilities, Temple University College of Education is pleased to recognize some of our 2020 Symposium Partners/Sponsors from Temple University:

This year we also want to recognize the contributions of students (Associate Professor Deb Blair, STHM 2114 - Leisure & Tourism in a Diverse Society), who contributed to shaping and supporting this symposium:

  • Madeline Culbert, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management; Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 08/2021)
  • Jair Guardia, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management. (est. 08/2021)
  • Hallie Ingrim, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management
  • Thomas Leonard, School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 08/2021)
  • Bryan McCurdy, School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Science: Tourism and Hospitality Management (est. 05/2022)

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