Monday, September 26, 2011

Congratulations Marie-Therese Connolly!

On Tuesday, Marie-Therese Connolly, who for years has been trying to place elder abuse in the national spotlight, is being awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, the $500,000, “no strings attached,” so-called “genius” grant given annually to a couple dozen artists, thinkers, social advocates and historians.

“I was shocked that the problem is so invisible,” she said in an interview Monday. “There is so much opportunity for change, and I can’t think of another issue that affects so many people and where less is being done.”

In issuing the award, the foundation said Connolly, a 54-year-old District resident and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, has “devoted her career to laying bare the many forms of elder abuse: physical and psychological, as well as financial exploitation and wrongful deprivation of rights.”

Full Article and Source:
MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Goes to D.C. Activist Who Fights Elder Abuse

3 comments:

Casey said...

Good for you! I hope you find your way to advocating for guardianship victims.

Diane said...

This is a perfect opportunity for this woman to take the stories of guardianship abuse victims and take them to the public. No actors necessary, just use the victims and their families.Get this on television and in the media. Now, there is no time to waste.

Lynn S. said...

Marie-Therese Connolly,

Please use the 500,000 to help get some good lobbyist up in Washington who will seek immediate relief from guardianship fees, including their appointed attorney’s. This alone if could happen would make the field more of an honest living. Long term care of the elderly does not belong in the court system. The money being made is improper! alone. Start with their wallets. Hit them hard. Get guardianship under control or get rid of it.