Exasperated. Attentive. Informed. Understanding. These are just some of the expressions that filled the Cayuga Museum since the opening of “The Suitcase Exhibit: Lives They Left Behind.” The exhibit, still on display, showcases personal belongings and artifacts of past patients left behind from their over-extended stay at Willard Psychiatric Center.

Those who viewed the display shared strong feelings of frustration, shock and empathy toward the exhibit. Connections formed between those who viewed the exhibit and the former patients. Bewildered by the amount of time patients spent at Willard, onlookers searched the narratives and displays to find common ground between the patients' pasts and their own. “That could have been me!” was heard throughout the night as people found common ground between their own lives and those institutionalized.

The exhibit was brought to the community in hopes of breaking barriers and stigmas related to those with mental health illnesses. Understanding mental health disabilities allows the creation of an atmosphere that does not judge, discriminate or segregate individuals. Whether an individual with mental health needs is in a prison cell, a hospital bed or an independent living situation, they deserve to be understood and not discriminated against because of their disability.

Meghan, a graduate student at Buffalo University, found the exhibit very interesting and sad at the same time. She was floored by the length of time individuals spent at Willard, especially with no concrete evidence for continued admittance and lack of “medical” treatment. By the time patients were about to be released they had spent their whole lives in the facility. Meghan stated, “They had no community connection, no family. All they knew was Willard.” She also found it interesting that many of the patients were immigrants, asking, “Was there a communication barrier, a misunderstanding of different culture that led them to the hospital?”

Progress has definitely been made in the treatment of the mental health community. We no longer use “electroshock therapy” or use patients as experiments. But mental health services are still lacking in many areas.

Hopefully, the exhibit will result in more change and revolutionize the way individuals think, feel and communicate with the mental health community. Being ill-informed on current issues are debilitating to advocacy efforts.

Willard, now a prison, admitted 50,000 patients since opening its doors in 1869. When the facility closed in 1995, 400 suitcases were found left behind, still filled with belongings from former patients. The stories and legacy left behind by the former patients returns a human element to those individuals who lost their identities behind the closed walls of one of New York's insane asylums.

Amanda Derby is the housing advocate for Options for Independence, located at 75 Genesee St., Auburn. She can be reached at 255-3447.