Genie Wiley - TLC Documentary (2003)
-
0:01 - 0:03[Reporter] Officials in the Los Angeles
suburb of Arcadia -
0:03 - 0:06have taken custody of a
13-year-old girl and they say -
0:06 - 0:09was kept in such
isolation by her parents -
0:09 - 0:11that she never even
learned to talk. -
0:11 - 0:14The girl still wore diapers and
was uttering infantile noises -
0:14 - 0:17when a social worker discovered
the case two weeks ago. -
0:17 - 0:19But the authorities are
hoping she still -
0:19 - 0:21may have a normal
learning capacity. -
0:22 - 0:24[Narrator] Among the first to
see the child was -
0:24 - 0:27Temple City Detective,
Sergeant Frank Linley. -
0:35 - 0:38[Linley] I already knew that
the child was 13 1/2 years old. -
0:40 - 0:42And I took one look at her..
-
0:42 - 0:44and she wasn't much
bigger than my daughter, -
0:44 - 0:47Beverly, who had just
turned seven -
0:47 - 0:48about three months earlier.
-
0:49 - 0:53And I really had a hard
time conceiving of the idea -
0:53 - 0:55that the child was the age
that she was. -
0:56 - 1:00The child obviously
had been severely mistreated -
1:00 - 1:02as she was still in diapers,
couldn't walk, -
1:02 - 1:06she had no verbal skills
at all at that point. -
1:09 - 1:13The last time I was
on this street was probably -
1:13 - 1:1430 years ago.
-
1:16 - 1:18Yep, there it is.
-
1:19 - 1:20Hasn't changed much.
-
1:21 - 1:22The back yard looks the same.
-
1:22 - 1:24It's all weeds and dead grass.
-
1:26 - 1:29Looks the same
as it did in 1970. -
1:31 - 1:33[Narrator] The house belonged
to Clark Wiley. -
1:33 - 1:36A loner, Clark had turned
his back on the world -
1:36 - 1:38after his mother had been killed
in a hit and run accident. -
1:39 - 1:41After the accident,
-
1:41 - 1:44things in the Wiley house
would never be the same again. -
1:48 - 1:49[Linley] The house was completely dark.
-
1:50 - 1:54All the blinds were drawn
and there were no toys, -
1:54 - 1:57no clothes, nothing
that would ever indicate -
1:57 - 2:00to you that a child
of any age lived there. -
2:05 - 2:09The child's bedroom was
back in this corner. -
2:10 - 2:12That was the bedroom.
-
2:12 - 2:17The windows were covered to
about three inches from the top. -
2:17 - 2:20Which were the only natural
light that had ever come in -
2:20 - 2:22there in all the time
the child was in the bedroom. -
2:23 - 2:26Entire furnishings of
the bedroom consists of a cage -
2:26 - 2:31with a pull down
chicken wire lid and some type -
2:31 - 2:35of piece of wire securing
it when they closed it down. -
2:35 - 2:37There was a potty chair
-
2:38 - 2:40with some kind of
homemade strapping device. -
2:41 - 2:46[Narrator] For 13 years, Genie had spent
her nights locked in bed. -
2:46 - 2:48Her days, strapped
to a potty chair. -
2:49 - 2:52During that time Clark had
ordered his son John -
2:52 - 2:54and wife Irene, never
to talk to her. -
2:56 - 3:01In her darkened room, she had led
a life of near total isolation. -
3:03 - 3:07Even close neighbors were
completely unaware of her presence. -
3:09 - 3:10[Laicans] We came home from work
and the police was here -
3:10 - 3:11and they came to question us.
-
3:12 - 3:14That's when we found out,
you know, -
3:14 - 3:17what happened and, you know,
that they had a little girl. -
3:18 - 3:21Nobody knew, nobody knew before.
-
3:21 - 3:23And when we found out
-
3:23 - 3:25what happened
and how she was treated, -
3:25 - 3:29I mean, everybody was shocked
and just unbelievable. -
3:30 - 3:32[Narrator] For their whole marriage,
-
3:32 - 3:34Clark had imposed
his will on Irene. -
3:34 - 3:36And blind with cataracts,
-
3:36 - 3:38she had been too
scared to resist. -
3:38 - 3:40But one day something broke.
-
3:41 - 3:43While Clark was
out buying groceries, -
3:43 - 3:45she seized her chance and fled.
-
3:45 - 3:46It was the first glimpse
-
3:46 - 3:48the world would have of Clark
and Irene's dark secret. -
3:49 - 3:52[Linley] I met Clark and Irene at
Temple City Sheriff's Station. -
3:52 - 3:55They were both under arrest
at the time. -
3:55 - 3:58When we interviewed Irene
she would make no mention -
3:58 - 4:01of the family whatsoever,
particularly the children. -
4:01 - 4:05I attempted along with
my partner to interview Clark. -
4:05 - 4:07He refused to talk to us.
He wouldn't say a word. -
4:07 - 4:09He never even acknowledged
-
4:09 - 4:10that he understood
what we were talking about. -
4:10 - 4:12[Woman] Mr. Wiley?
[Wiley] Yes. -
4:12 - 4:15[Woman] Why did you keep
your daughter in a room-- -
4:15 - 4:16[Man] Mr. Wiley has no comment.
[Wiley] No comment. -
4:16 - 4:18[Man] We haven't had time
to discuss the charge -
4:18 - 4:19and we haven't even seen them.
-
4:20 - 4:22[Narrator] Unable to face the truth,
-
4:22 - 4:24Clark took matters
into his own hands. -
4:28 - 4:31[Reporter] This morning the authorities
reported that 70 year old Clark Wiley, -
4:31 - 4:34shot and killed himself just
before he was to go to court -
4:34 - 4:36and be arraigned
for child abuse. -
4:38 - 4:41[Narrator] After 13 years,
Genie was at last free. -
4:41 - 4:42And for scientists,
-
4:42 - 4:45she was just the case
they had been waiting for. -
4:48 - 4:52For 13 years Genie had lived
a life of complete isolation. -
4:53 - 4:56Raised in a city bedroom,
Genie was as much -
4:56 - 4:59a feral child as if she
had been brought up by wolves. -
5:01 - 5:03At 13 she was the size
of a six year old. -
5:04 - 5:07Worst of all she had never
been taught to speak. -
5:07 - 5:10The question now,
could she ever learn? -
5:14 - 5:17Genie's case was so
scientifically important -
5:17 - 5:20that the government funded
a team of scientists -
5:20 - 5:23to help answer the many
questions she posed. -
5:26 - 5:28Two of the scientists who would
become especially important -
5:28 - 5:32to Genie were
child psychologist James Kent -
5:32 - 5:33and linguist Susan Curtiss.
-
5:34 - 5:37[Curtiss] It's so wonderful
to see you. God. -
5:37 - 5:40[Narrator] Neither had ever encountered
a case as extreme as Genie's. -
5:47 - 5:49[Kent] We looked at her as a--
-
5:49 - 5:50as a newborn in a way.
-
5:50 - 5:52Even though we know she hadn't--
-
5:52 - 5:55she came with 13 years
of memories and experiences. -
5:55 - 5:57Not all of them wonderful.
Most of them not, I think. -
5:57 - 5:59And so we thought we needed
-
5:59 - 6:03to start to expose her to what
the world was going to be -
6:03 - 6:05like for her outside
the hospital bed. -
6:06 - 6:09[Narrator] To Genie, everything
was a new experience. -
6:10 - 6:12[Kent] We did what you
would do with-- -
6:12 - 6:13with your own kids.
-
6:13 - 6:15If you were introducing
them to the world. -
6:15 - 6:18You'd take them out and
hold them up and show them. -
6:18 - 6:19Sort of judge from how they reacted
-
6:19 - 6:20to whether this was too much
-
6:20 - 6:22or not enough and you could
move on and do the next thing. -
6:23 - 6:25[Narrator] Genie was making
amazing progress. -
6:25 - 6:27As the experts looked on,
-
6:27 - 6:30they realized that she might
be the answer to the question -
6:30 - 6:32that had troubled science
for so long. -
6:34 - 6:37[Curtiss] So we seized
this wonderful opportunity -
6:37 - 6:40that she provided us
in as loving a way -
6:40 - 6:46as we could but using it
to finally get our chance -
6:46 - 6:50to address head-on
specific hypotheses -
6:50 - 6:53and notions about human language
and the human mind. -
6:55 - 6:58[Narrator] These hypotheses were based
on the latest ideas -
6:58 - 7:00about how children's
brains developed. -
7:01 - 7:02According to the theory,
-
7:02 - 7:06young children could only learn
certain things at certain times, -
7:06 - 7:08called critical periods.
-
7:08 - 7:11Language was one of
these critical periods -
7:11 - 7:12and according to the theory,
-
7:12 - 7:16Genie who was now a teenager,
had missed her chance forever. -
7:19 - 7:22But incredibly, Genie seemed
to be proving the theory wrong. -
7:22 - 7:25As this footage shows,
Genie was blossoming. -
7:25 - 7:28Not only was she delighted
by the world around her -
7:28 - 7:29but she was learning the words
-
7:29 - 7:31for the new things
she was seeing. -
7:36 - 7:39[Curtiss] She was extremely
interested in everything around her. -
7:39 - 7:42She wanted to know the word
for everything around her. -
7:42 - 7:45She wanted to engage
people all around her. -
7:45 - 7:47She was not mentally deficient.
-
7:47 - 7:49Her lights were on and everyone
-
7:49 - 7:54who worked with her from
teachers to therapists to me, -
7:54 - 7:57knew that she was not retarded.
-
7:57 - 7:59It was clear as day.
-
8:00 - 8:03And as she began to learn more
and more words, -
8:03 - 8:07hundreds of words, much more
rapidly than I ever imagined. -
8:07 - 8:12And string them together, I began
to think maybe I will be wrong. -
8:12 - 8:14Maybe she will be the one
-
8:14 - 8:17that will prove that
this hypothesis is incorrect. -
8:18 - 8:20[Narrator] But Genie could not
escape the effects -
8:20 - 8:22of her past so easily.
-
8:22 - 8:25She was still haunted
by her traumatic upbringing. -
8:25 - 8:29Trapped by the memories of
the awful fate she had suffered. -
8:29 - 8:32And linguistically, she
had stopped making progress. -
8:32 - 8:34[Curtiss] She learned
tons of words. -
8:34 - 8:37She has an enormous vocabulary.
But language is not words. -
8:37 - 8:42Language is grammar.
Language is sentences. -
8:42 - 8:46How do you make a sentence?
What can be a sentence? -
8:46 - 8:47What is a sentence?
-
8:47 - 8:49How do you automatically
know something's a sentence? -
8:50 - 8:54So it wasn't because she
was cognitively deficient -
8:54 - 8:59in other respects, it was because
she was cognitively deficient -
8:59 - 9:02in this island of human mind.
-
9:02 - 9:05The mental faculty
that we call grammar. -
9:05 - 9:06[Narrator] At the time Genie was found,
-
9:06 - 9:09brain science was in its infancy.
-
9:09 - 9:11But today we have a much clearer picture
-
9:11 - 9:13of what actually happens in cases
-
9:13 - 9:15of extreme neglect, like Genie's.
-
9:16 - 9:20[Perry] In Genie's brain,
the left part of her brain, -
9:20 - 9:23her cortex, that has those
neural systems responsible -
9:23 - 9:25for speech and language.
-
9:25 - 9:27Because she never
heard any words -
9:27 - 9:29and because she
was never taught-- -
9:29 - 9:31spoken to very often.
-
9:31 - 9:33They didn't get stimulated.
-
9:33 - 9:34And because they
weren't stimulated, -
9:34 - 9:39they got smaller
and less functional -
9:39 - 9:41and disconnected and ultimately
-
9:41 - 9:44that part of the brain
literally physically changes. -
9:44 - 9:47[Narrator] Today with modern
imaging technology, -
9:47 - 9:51we can actually see what happens
in the brains of feral children. -
9:51 - 9:53And the effects are shocking.
-
9:54 - 9:56Without normal stimulation,
-
9:56 - 9:58their brains are smaller and malformed.
-
9:58 - 10:02And the earlier this neglect begins
and the longer it carries on, -
10:02 - 10:05the worse the damage will be.
-
10:05 - 10:06Starved of stimulation,
-
10:06 - 10:09Genie's brain had simply not developed
-
10:09 - 10:11the capacity for language.
-
10:11 - 10:12And now that she was a teenager,
-
10:12 - 10:15she would never be able to learn.
-
10:15 - 10:19Despite this, Genie continued
to be a close part of everyone's life. -
10:19 - 10:21But, there was more trouble ahead.
-
10:24 - 10:26[Kent] Children have to belong
to somebody when they grow up -
10:26 - 10:28and she was still a child.
-
10:28 - 10:30And she needed a family to belong to.
-
10:30 - 10:31So that's what we would have liked,
-
10:31 - 10:33a family that she could belong to.
-
10:34 - 10:37And that's not what happened unfortunately.
-
10:38 - 10:41What did happen is about the worst outcome
-
10:41 - 10:43I think we would have envisioned.
-
10:44 - 10:46[Narrator] On her 18th birthday,
-
10:46 - 10:48Genie moved back with her
mother, Irene, into the house -
10:48 - 10:51in which she had been so terribly abused.
-
10:51 - 10:53But after only a few weeks,
-
10:53 - 10:55it was clear that Irene couldn't cope.
-
10:55 - 10:58From here,
Genie was moved into state care -
10:58 - 11:00with terrible consequences.
-
11:02 - 11:05[Curtiss] I was a student and
people wouldn't listen to me. -
11:05 - 11:08People who needed to intervene
did not listen to me. -
11:08 - 11:12And so I spent lots and lots
of time on the phone pleading -
11:12 - 11:15with people to intervene and save this person,
-
11:15 - 11:19who had had the worst experience
-
11:19 - 11:23of deprivation and isolation
in all recorded medical history. -
11:23 - 11:25[Narrator] Genie moved from home to home.
-
11:25 - 11:29Sometimes with the very people
who served as her therapists. -
11:29 - 11:32This potential conflict of
interest raised tensions -
11:32 - 11:35among the many people involved in her life.
-
11:35 - 11:37And a tug of war erupted over the child.
-
11:37 - 11:40As Genie's condition deteriorated,
-
11:40 - 11:42Irene decided that Susan Curtiss
-
11:42 - 11:45and the other academics had
become too close to Genie. -
11:45 - 11:47A lawsuit followed.
-
11:50 - 11:53[Curtiss] I went from being asked
to be her guardian, to one week -
11:53 - 11:57later being prevented from
seeing her or phoning her. -
11:57 - 11:59And ever since then
I've been prevented -
11:59 - 12:01from having any contact at all.
-
12:01 - 12:05So although I have lots of,
you know, I'm still a scientist, -
12:05 - 12:09I'm still interested in knowing
things about her language now. -
12:09 - 12:12And all kinds of interesting things
-
12:12 - 12:14I would like to pursue academically,
-
12:14 - 12:17primarily, I would just like to see her.
-
12:18 - 12:19[Narrator] Now a ward of the court,
-
12:19 - 12:22Genie lives in an adult
care home somewhere -
12:22 - 12:25in Los Angeles, prevented
from seeing the people -
12:25 - 12:27who once meant so much to her.
- Title:
- Genie Wiley - TLC Documentary (2003)
- Description:
-
From the TLC documentary 'Wild Child :The Story Of Feral Children'. Susan (Genie) was not a wild child, she was an extremely abused child.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtgnjRY_Z7w
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4804490&page=1#.UYgsK0odfCp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdycJQi4QA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3oy6vK7gsg
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/7847/Born-Genius--My-Brilliant-Brain - Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 12:27
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