Disability Rights West Virginia
DHHR leaders say they’ll change staff vetting after multiple contract employees arrested
Leaders with the state health department said they’ll “conduct an internal review” and change their staff vetting process at William R. Sharpe, Jr., Hospital, which serves patients with disabilities, some of whom are nonverbal. The announcement in a press release came hours after West Virginia Watch published a story revealing that multiple Sharpe staff members […]
Mother seeks answers as son with autism trapped and injured in troubled state psychiatric hospital
Content warning: Some photos in this story may be disturbing. Brenda Patch wants to know why her 33-year-old son with developmental disabilities and autism has been held in William R. Sharpe, Jr. Hospital, a psychiatric facility, for 414 days. Her son, identified in this story as JP, was marked for discharge to a community placement, […]
Mom wants changes after being told to take her autistic child out of Bridgeport movie theater
West Virginia’s disability rights advocacy group has asked a national movie theater chain to stop discriminating against children with disabilities after a little girl with autism was asked to leave a movie in Bridgeport. Last month, Vanessa Cain took her 4-year-old daughter Dani Cain to see Disney’s new adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” at the […]