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Quotation from Youngberg v. Romeo by Supreme Court of the United States
“For many mentally retarded people, the difference between the capacity to do things for themselves within an institution and total dependence on the institution for all of their needs is as much liberty as they ever will know.”
Youngberg v. Romeo, Concurrence of Justice Blackmun (U.S. Reports text (Legal Information Institute))
Justice Blackmun, joined by Justices Brennan and O'Connor, explains why loss of self-care skills might be a loss of liberty; the wording is the clinical vocabulary of 1982.
Citation: "For many mentally retarded people, the difference between the capacity to do things for themselves within an institution and total dependence on the institution for all of their needs is as much liberty as they ever will know." — Supreme Court of the United States, Youngberg v. Romeo, Concurrence of Justice Blackmun (U.S. Reports text (Legal Information Institute)). (id youngberg-v-romeo-q5)
Portrait: US Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell - 1976 official portrait, Color negative by Robert S. Oakes, Public domain.
