Much of the time during the day she was harnessed to a toilet seat, and she was not allowed to leave her gloomy room under any circumstances, she was barely fed, and she was mostly totally ignored and left in a darkened room, with no one at all to keep her company. Upon learning that his new daughter might be retarded he didn't take it well, and went about chaining the girl in her room, constrained in a type of straitjacket and surrounded by chicken wire and wire mesh. Her father was a bit of a social outcast, had lost two children already due to neglect, and had never wanted children in the first place, although he did have a son as well. It would turn out that when Genie was born, her true name was Susan Wiley, her parents Dorothy and Clark Wiley had been told that there was a chance that their baby was retarded. She exhibited a complete lack of socialization, scurried and cringed away from physical contact, and generally acted more like a wild animal than a human being, and although it was first assumed that she was merely extremely autistic, it would soon be learned that there was more to this as the police looked into her case. ![]() Neither did she understand basic gestures or seem to be able to process what facial expressions conveyed. Mentally she seemed profoundly stunted, apparently not able to speak except for a few very basic words, and she usually remained completely silent, and she did not show signs that she even comprehended what was being said to her. Within her mouth were found two complete sets of teeth, due to a rare dental condition called “supernumeraries,” and it was found that she was unable to chew or swallow food on her own, requiring her to be specially hand fed. She also drooled and spat constantly and was incontinent, just defecating or urinating wherever she happened to be. ![]() Although she was determined to have normal vision in both eyes, she had great difficulty focusing on anything more than 10 feet away from her. Physically she was underdeveloped, extremely malnourished, smaller than usual for her age at only 59 pounds, unable to walk on two legs but rather crawling or hopping about, and she was seemingly unable to even fully extend her limbs. Upon taking the girl to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles she was named “Genie” to protect her true identity and studied by teams of doctors and psychologists, who found her to be very unique indeed. The horrified welfare workers immediately took the girl into custody and informed police, and from there the strange and tragic story of the wild girl they would call “Genie” unfolds. The girl could not walk or talk, hopped about like a rabbit, was wearing diapers, and although the workers estimated that she was only 6 or 7 years old it soon became clear that she was actually nearly 14. By her side was crouched a withered, pale, and gaunt looking girl, who furtively looked about and held her hands up to her chest like some sort of wild animal. In October of 1970, one Los Angeles county welfare office was in for a shock when into their facility stumbled a woman with eyes ridden with cataracts and seemingly blind. ![]() Another question would be what happens when you strip all of what we take for granted and which has molded us away? What happens when we strip away all human contact and grow up in complete isolation from civilization? Does the humanity remain or do we become something else? To look for clues to the answers to these questions we can look to the very strange and tragic story of a girl who was raised in nearly complete isolation, and who would pose insights into what it truly means to be human. What is it that makes us human? Is it some innate quality we are born with, or is it mostly the shaping and molding we undergo as we stumble through childhood and the society that we have constructed? It is a question that has been debated and philosophized on for a long time, and still the essence of the answer to this very basic question eludes us.
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