"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."
Maryann Preble was institutionalized at Pineland, Maine’s large institution for people with developmental disabilities, after her mother died. A chance encounter with her brother led both to her leaving Pineland, and a life of work, marriage, and advocacy for others like her.
Find a full transcript of this podcast here: https://maineddc.org/transcript-maryann-preble