Freeing Teresa is a true story about an activist who tries to stop her powerful siblings from putting their disabled sister into a nursing home. She fails. And then must rescue her.
Franke James objected when she heard of the plan to put her disabled sister into a nursing home. Teresa Heartchild was just 49 years old and healthy. But the other siblings, who were acting as Teresaâs âguardians,â said that Teresa, who has Down syndrome, was âincapable.â Despite the objections, the siblings put Teresa into a nursing home, insisting it was necessary. But Franke refused to accept this, and she helped Teresa get discharged. Thatâs when all hell broke loose. The two sisters had to stand togetherâagainst their siblings, the medical system and the policeâto defend Teresaâs right to be free.
Freeing Teresa is a true story about an activist who tries to stop her powerful siblings from putting their disabled sister into a nursing home. She fails. And then must rescue her.
Franke James objected when she heard of the plan to put her disabled sister into a nursing home. Teresa Heartchild was just 49 years old and healthy. But the other siblings, who were acting as Teresaâs âguardians,â said that Teresa, who has Down syndrome, was âincapable.â Despite the objections, the siblings put Teresa into a nursing home, insisting it was necessary. But Franke refused to accept this, and she helped Teresa get discharged. Thatâs when all hell broke loose. The two sisters had to stand togetherâagainst their siblings, the medical system and the policeâto defend Teresaâs right to be free.
November 30, 2013, 8:00 p.m.
The cops didnât buzz up. They arrived on the fourth floor unannounced. Outside Dadâs front door, the police assembled their witnesses and waited for the paramedics.
Inside, we were having fun making videos. I was filming my younger sister Teresa. She was clearing the table after our pizza dinner and I asked her, âSo, how does it feel to be back home?â
âAwesome,â she said. âWeâve got everything here.â And she flashed a V for victory. Teresa is shortâtiny, as she describes herselfâshe has a ready smile, a peaches and cream complexion, and straight shoulder-length brown hair. She had lived with Dad all her life. Before these troubling events she had no idea that her life was about to change.Â
I turned towards the kitchen where Dad was washing coffee mugs. He looked at me and said fondly, âMy goodness, you guys are real pushers.â All my life, Dad had praised my drive to get things done. On that day, he was ecstatic because we had helped him rescue Teresa. As I moved in closer, he asked, âWhat are you doing?â
âIâm shooting a video of you,â I said.
âOf me?â
âYeah, right now,â I said, holding up my iPad.
He smiled as he neatly hung the dish towel on the rack.
Teresa sat down at the small dining table beside my husband, Bill. Heâs good-looking with short greying hair and is very fit, still running marathons in his fifties. Teresa was showing him her trophies. Bill said, âHey Franke, get this on video: Teresa showing us her calendar and favourite things.âÂ
Teresa and Bill were slowly flipping through Teresaâs calendar, chatting about events, when we heard the knock at the door. As Bill went to answer it, I kept the camera on Teresa. She was smiling happily, picking up her trophies and carrying them back to her room as Bill opened the front door.
And there they wereâtwo big cops, two paramedics with a stretcher, and others behind them. I caught a glimpse of my older sister, Deirdre, wearing a bulky maroon coat.
The first cop stepped in. He was bigger than Bill and looked beefy, especially with his bulletproof vest and the gun on his hip.
âWho are you?â he barked.
I heard Deirdreâs voice coming from the hallway, âThatâs Bill.âÂ
The cop immediately asked Bill to leave.
Bill backed away from the door, asking, âCan I see some documentation?â
The cop ignored him and took another step in. âCome on out,â he ordered. Then he spotted meâblonde hair, slim, in a long black cardigan with a red scarfâand I was holding my iPad. It was pointed right at him. He waved me towards the front door, saying, âCome on out.â
I shook my head, no. I was not leaving. I was afraid the cops were there to take Teresa back.
Just then Teresa came out of her room, curious to see what was going on. She was born with Down syndrome and had lived with my dad all her life.
Bill turned back and, seeing her, he called, âTeresa!âÂ
I dropped the iPad on the table and grabbed Teresa, pulling her away from the door.
Hearing strange voices, my dad came back to the dining room. He stood beside me, wearing a collared T-shirt, a dark sweater and dark pants. Although surprised to see the police, he was quiet and composed. This was a skill developed from his years of being a lawyer.
The two cops strode in. The others followed, crowding into Dadâs tiny kitchen. Deirdre and my other sister, Siobhan, marched in with their husbands, followed by two paramedics. They lined up behind the cops and stared at us grimly.
I was hoping that the Toronto police would listen to both sides of the story. But I was worried. We had been through a lot in the past few days. Everything I thought I knew was being thrown into question. My hand was in my pocket, holding my small audio recorder. I took it out and pressed start.
Then the first cop spoke, âWe want to make sure that youâre okay.â
His words were probably meant to reassure, but they still sounded threatening.
Teresa answered, âWeâre okay. Weâre fine.â
The cop started to speak, âThereâs an allegation that . . .âÂ
But my attention was riveted on Deirdre. She raised her arm, pointing at me.
âWeâre being recorded!â She stabbed her finger at me. âFranke! Sheâs got a tape recorder.âÂ
I stepped forward. âYes, Iâve got a recorder.â And I held up my small, silver recorder for everyone to see. âIs that okay?â
. . .
This is a story about the battle for my sisterâs freedom and, unexpectedly, my own. None of us lives in a vacuum. Each one of us plays a role in society and in history. Every generation is inextricably part of the tug-of-war for civil rights. One generation fights and surges forward, grasping the trophy of new ground gained and new resolutions. But then the next forgets what all the fuss was about and relaxes their grip. Then the hard-won gains slip away. The war is never won. The struggle for equality is never done. But sometimes by standing up for whatâs right, you can make a difference.
I wasnât looking for a fight with my family. I already had my hands full fighting the governmentâs censorship of my climate change art. Ironically, that âlearning experienceâ turned out to be essential training. But letâs start at the beginning, at another stand-off in this very same hallway during a happier time nine months earlier.
This book did come with a trigger warning: extensive description and discussion of discriminatory attitudes and actions towards people based on disabilities or age.
Freeing Teresa is about a woman with Down Syndrome, written by her sister, Franke. When Teresa was born in 1964, doctors suggested to her parents that she be put in an institution. Her mother refused, and she lived at home with her parents. Her mother has since passed away, her father is approaching his 91st birthday and Teresa is 49 years old. Franke and 3 of her siblings are trying to figure out where Teresa should go to live, as her father's health is failing and they would prefer her to be settled before their Dad passes. Her brother had initially told his father he would take Teresa in, but now none of the siblings want to take on the role of her sole caretaker and they are looking at other options. Franke, though busy with her books and traveling to promote them, feels that Teresa is capable of making a decision for where she should live and is trying to advocate for her, but her other siblings keep excluding Teresa and her father from any conversation and have the CCAC deem Teresa incapable of making such decisions. Franke doesn't believe Teresa should go to a nursing home and instead thinks it is possible that Teresa can live with others who have Down Syndrome, or with her and her husband. Her siblings continue to try and block every solution she tries to offer. Franke's family did not want this story to be told so many of the personal details have been redacted and their images/likeness have been photoshopped out of all the photos. She writes, "In photos throughout the book, the images of many family members have been blanked-out echoing their absence in my life"
I have to say, this book was not at all what I was expecting. When I saw it was a true story about fighting ableism, I thought it was going to be some sort of facility or company that was causing all the issues for Teresa, not her own family! As the story went on, I became more and more frustrated with her family. Of course, I am reading this from a disabled person's point of view, and if my brothers wouldn't help me out when I needed it, I'd be terribly upset! Of course my situation is a bit different as I only have a physical disability - but from what was presented about Teresa she seemed pretty capable of making her own decisions about what she wanted to do and where she wanted to live, but it seemed like no one other than Franke wanted to take that into consideration. I am not sure if the sister who had the husband who owned nursing homes was making some sort of deal off of her going there or what, but the way the other siblings teamed up against Franke and Teresa and their own father's wishes was, well, disgusting. It does seem like there is a sequel coming as the ending did not really resolve much of anything, but I can only hope that there was a happy ending.
I gave this book 4 stars and I would definitely recommend it to others - but be sure to keep an open mind. After the first half of the book I was flabbergasted and thought the whole book was awful, but I stuck it through and rode the rest of the roller coaster with Teresa and was happy I stuck it out. If you consider yourself an activist or ally for the disabled then I think you would find this book to be rather eye opening.