Years ago, a girl aged 13 came into the Los Angeles welfare office, but she was not like any other child who had ever arrived there.
With curled hands like a frightened rabbit and unable to talk, she found walking very hard. Even though she was known as Genie, her case would open people’s minds about language, the brain and how people form relationships.
Who was Genie Wiley?
Genie Wiley came into this world in Arcadia, California, in 1957. She might have grown up like another child, but she is linked to incidents of torture and abuse.
She was number four in her family and the middle child to survive. Her father, Clark Wiley, had been a flight mechanic during World War II and went on to stay in the aviation field. She had a mother from Oklahoma, about 20 years her senior and originally from a farming background, who came to Southern California with family friends during the Dust Bowl.
Genie experienced a lot of harsh treatment and neglect during her early years. John was born five years ahead of her sister and although she seemed healthy at first, a congenital hip condition stopped her from learning to walk as fast as other children. Because of the delay, her father believed she was mentally handicapped and started to stay away from and ignore her, even forbidding her brother and mother to be involved.
As Genie got older, her father would scare her with his bad acts. After a trauma in his own family, he grew angrier and more suspicious, believing that the outside world wanted to harm him. Genie was locked in a tiny room and chained to a toilet during the day and put into a crib at night, often leaving her in the same position for hours. She was not allowed to make any sound and if she did, he beat her. When he wanted her to stop, he would bark and hit her, making her afraid of all animals.
All Genie ate were baby foods and fluids and she was regularly fed in a pushy manner with little chance to play or talk. Her father restricted the family very closely, forbidding them to use television, radio or even speak normally, so Genie was kept away from other people and sounds.
Her mom, who was nearly blind and terrified, was unable to shield her from harm and was assaulted if she attempted to do so. Even Genie’s brother was forced to remain silent and in some cases was included in the abuse. Not long after promising that help would arrive after Genie turned 12, her father chose to keep her in the room without help for an extra five years until she was discovered.
Among numerous cases, this was one of the worst examples of child abuse.
After Genie’s mother managed to bring her to the welfare office, they mistakenly entered the wrong area, yet the consequences were huge for many people.
Initially, staff at the LA social workers’ office thought the situation was due to autism, but it quickly became plain what was going on.
The doctors believed she was the most severely traumatized child they ever cared for.
When Genie was uncovered, she was only wearing diapers and was extremely weak because of mistreatment. Despite everything, her features had a strange and attractive quality and she looked like Anne Frank in some way.
She had too many teeth and they made eating and swallowing very hard for her. She could hardly move because her body weighed as much as a child her own age.
Genie drew a lot of interest from scientists across the country because they wanted to see if language could be learned when a person missed their key brain development years.
Genie learned some simple sayings such as “blue,” “go,” and “mother.” She could make drawings, put together puzzles and express herself without words. orse, getting a grip on the rules of grammar was beyond me.
Specialists think that the brain’s ability to develop language was already gone. You could tell she walked differently, spat a lot and was not able to straighten her limbs fully. Her body could not process food well, leaving her mute and dry and she did not seem to recognize any other words besides her name and “sorry.”
Yet, the story of Genie raised strong disagreements among linguists, psychologists and those caring for her. Some believed she was still recovering and others hoped she would not fall into decline again.
Tragic results
Regretfully, Genie’s life started to go downhill after she made some good progress. A very short time after Genie turned 18, she was placed with her mother. After several months, Genie’s mother agreed that she wasn’t able to meet her daughter’s care needs. Because of Genie’s wish to be helped, officials sent her to the first institution and foster home for adults with disabilities.
In fact, these were not welcoming spaces for Black people. There were disputes between those responsible for her. Funding vanished. She moved from one home or institution to another and was always out of the public spotlight.
Because of what she experienced, Genie’s physical and mental health declined greatly and what she had achieved in language and behavior was quickly lost.
Many people who cared for her were plagued by their memories for years. Former UCLA linguist Susan Curtiss, who developed a close relationship with Genie, continues to wish she could see her. She remarked during an interview with The Guardian in 2016:
I called all the time and each time I did, they told me she is still fine. None of my attempts to reach her were tolerated by the situation. My efforts to be close to her by visiting or writing are now useless. I believe it was around the early 1980s when I had last spoken to him.”
According to Russ Rymer, documenting Genie’s life changed him in ways that last to this day. In the 1990s, Desmond wrote two New Yorker stories and a book titled Genie: A Scientific Tragedy, calling the pictures from her 27th birthday very moving. He described a big woman whose expression was not clear and who had trouble focusing as she looked at the cake. He remarked how her hair was cut short and messy, giving her a look like an asylum patient.
Genie’s outcome is still not known. The government says she remains in a state facility in California, but her exact location is kept secret. Genie will be between 67 and 68 years of age in 2024.
Her case emphasizes the inner strength of people and the bad consequences of mistreatment. She was studied by scientists, but she was treated more like a research project than a girl.
The mark of Clark Wiley’s harm never disappeared for John. After facing all that, he felt in 2008 that God might have left him, as quoted by ABC News. Perhaps I did not do enough for him.” The two of them lost contact with their mother in 1982 and John saw Genie for the final time that year. Because I felt so bad, I tried my best to forget about Genie. Still, I think it was helpful that she got some support.
A series of legal problems led John to settle in Ohio and he worked as a house painter for many years. After marrying, he raised a daughter named Pamela, but the marriage ended and Pamela, his niece, struggled with addiction.
In 2010, authorities discovered that Pamela had been intoxicated and they charged her with putting her two nieces in danger. Unfortunately, no miracle happened in the end. In 2011, John, who had diabetes, died and Pamela, who didn’t know her aunt Genie, lost her life just a year before, in 2012.
Apparently, both of Genie’s parents faced charges of abuse, though her father eventually took his own life just the day before going before the judge. Two suicide notes were found by the police: one for his son that requested him to grow up well and the other written to the authorities. One version says that one note contained this haunting phrase: “The world will never understand.”
Sometimes, events like Genie’s raise the question of how we keep those who are most at risk safe. How can we pursue both science and caring for others? Is it possible for love and words to fix the most painful problems?
It reminds us to ensure children are never overlooked, silenced or ignored.
