Written by Hannah Dang with support from the DAC Team
Caption: A poster promoting the documentary screening and discussion on “Fred’s Story” at the University of Connecticut. The poster has four different pictures, from varying angles, of an elderly man named Fred Calabrese, a man who was institutionalized at the Mansfield Training School.
Dim the lights. Lower our voices.
And allow the music, a fanfare of brass from the former Mansfield Training School band, to surround us, filling up the space, ejecting us back to the mid-twentieth century.
Sponsored by UConn’s Individualized and Interdisciplinary Studies Program and hosted by Ken Cormier, on the second floor of UConn’s Homer Babbidge Library, in the cozy video theater, we enjoyed a live film screening of “Fred’s Story.” The documentary was filmed and produced by Eric Neudel in 1996, three years following Mansfield’s closing, on the lived experiences of Fred Calabrese, one of the residents at Mansfield Training School. Following the 27 minute group watch, the presentation shifted to a Q&A discussion, featuring three interdisciplinary panelists. The panel members were: Ashten Vassar-Cain, a UConn graduate student majoring in Human Rights and an advocate for disability justice who has been a member of the Mansfield Training School Memorial and Museum Project for two years (and co-founder of the DAC blog); Nadia Scott, a UConn doctoral student majoring in History and an independent curator and writer focused on visual culture, nature building, and citizenship in America; and Kathryn Hanewicz, a social worker and the current director of Southbury Training School in Connecticut.
The documentary was based on the true story of Fred Calabrese and the state of living he experienced for forty years after being sent to the Mansfield Training School, an institution in Connecticut. He recapped the harsh realities and living conditions at Mansfield including details which weren’t limited to: sweltering heat, unsanitary and tightly-enclosed living spaces, not being allowed outside, and being assigned a guard 24/7. By the time Fred left Mansfield and regained his freedom and autonomy, he eventually obtained an apartment of his own and a new job with supportive co-workers. That was when Fred was approached by Eric Neudel to create a film production on his time at Mansfield and his life afterward.
At the end of the film showing, the three panelists were asked to speak on their reactions and research regarding “Fred’s Story.” I had a lot of thoughts after watching the film and attending the panel. Down below is a curated list of some of my thoughts.
One of the panelists brought up the notion that while Mansfield Training School was closed, we have to understand the construction of training schools was not a singular incident. Even now, the inhumane practices of these “schools” happen to people with disabilities on a global scale because their rights are always confiscated. As we sadly saw in the form of personal stories, including Fred’s, human rights did not always apply to disabled people, and the medicalization of disability restricted people’s rights.
One of the panelists revealed some of the residents’ medical histories were located in Archives, but the information was either redacted or restricted. In other words, it was not accessible due to HIPPA privacy protection laws. As such, we should consider ourselves extremely lucky to have “Fred’s Story” because not everyone has the opportunity nor the privilege to tell their side of the story. People may interpret the purpose of “Fred’s Story” to be countering the misunderstandings and misinformation regarding institutionalized residents as well as criticizing the Mansfield Training School. While the film depicted Fred’s life accurately, we also need to watch the film critically: “Fred’s Story” only represented one perspective of institutionalization. There were other residents who were at Mansfield for longer, for decades, since childhood, and many even until death. This doesn’t discredit “Fred’s Story” per se, but we do have to keep in mind there are parts of the story we’ll never see.
The floor was then open to questions, and one of the members of the audience brought up UConn’s failure to install a memorial for the Mansfield residents and asked about the specifics in regards to UConn not taking accountability. A bunch of answers sprouted forth. According to the panelists, there were proposals on what to do with the property after Mansfield’s closing, but as of late, there are no plans being implemented. At some point, the building was reused as a prison, but due to contamination and the owners’ neglect, the building closed down again. Even in the present, information on the training school was limited, and someone else in the audience said that not much survived after the building closed down.
We can ask ourselves if there are any possibilities of using and repurposing training schools and to what capacity. After all, we have to remember we cannot always blame the architects of the buildings or the people who worked at the facilities, but the superiors behind-the-scenes are the ones responsible for burying the matter of the Mansfield Training School’s existence. Just as we can’t access the residents’ medical histories, we don’t have the backing to fully research the layout of Mansfield. Both are a form of erasure. We can’t insert our own narratives or rewrite history.
If disabled people are constantly being oppressed and deprived of our rights as human individuals, we then have to ask ourselves the following: “How do we empower each other?”
My answers:
- We integrate our values.
- We hear, accept, and empathize with people’s stories, the beautiful and the “ugliness.”
- We have a multidisciplinary understanding.
- We acknowledge it as a part of human history.
- We recognize the importance of our lived experiences.
That is how.
Fred Calabrese and “Fred’s Story” were the manifestation of what it means to value a human life. Something we can learn from Fred is the way he unabashedly cherished his workplace and prioritized the friendships he sparked with people. As pointed out by one of the panelists, in the film, we see Fred was always introducing people at his office to the cameramen. At Mansfield, Fred was isolated and his needs were ignored. As such, Fred’s efforts toward ensuring every one of his co-workers and friends are recognized speaks volumes about the legacy Fred wanted to leave behind: a message of hope and resilience. One of the audience members met Fred in-person and said he was one of the friendliest and strongest people she ever met, testifying that Fred was a one of a kind person who deserved better than the mistreatment he experienced at Mansfield.
Advocating for our rights and for the rights of others is our greatest weapon and shield. This is the time to determine the value of humanity and challenge authority that seeks to diminish our prosperity. For the longest time, we were never allowed to have conversations on disability advocacy and institutionalization due to stigmatization.
But now, in this moment, we have to pay attention to the history of this neglect and transform that predetermined narrative to a chapter written by and belonging to us.
Disability & Access Collective 