Asylum or Ableism? Halloween’s Glamorization of Mental Illness

During the 1960s, people with mental illness were reintegrated into society, following mass deinstitutionalization efforts of the United States government, rendering state-funded mental hospitals outdated. Many of these buildings were repurposed as “haunted houses”, with heart-stopping tours and actors dressed in hospital gowns smeared with blood. Hundreds of people flock to these attractions every fall, […]