A Harlem mother who was at the forefront of a 1970s grassroots movement that dramatically changed the lives of developmentally disabled New Yorkers who were institutionalized is still going strong in both her life and life's mission. New York 1 News' Cheryl Wills filed the following report.
NEW YORK -- Shortly after Willie Mae Goodman's daughter, Margaret, was born in the mid 1950s, doctors insisted that her mentally disabled baby wouldn't live to be a toddler.
They told her that the best thing to do was to put her baby girl in Staten Island's Willowbrook State School and basically forget about her.
"They thought they were just keeping them alive -- no life," Goodman said.
Offended, Goodman rolled up her sleeves and started a grassroots movement to fight for all children who were institutionalized in the notoriously overcrowded and understaffed facility.
Margaret is now 54 years old. Goodman, almost 80, is still on the frontlines of that battle.
"When you fight, you never stop fighting," Goodman said.
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