This ethnographic study of deinstitutionalization explores the lives of
women living in a locked ward within an institution for people with
intellectual disabilities. Johnson describes in rich and
carefully-observed detail the lives of the women in the institution
largely through their own stories and experiences. The closure of this
institution gave her a unique opportunity to closely examine the impact
of deinstitutionalization on these women, and the book explores the
paradoxical discourse of rights and management that is part of this
process.