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Chris Johnson is 32 and confined to a wheelchair due to Cerebral Palsy. Chris is intelligent, has a
great sense of humor, and has a lot to offer the world. Everybody has a handicap in some way or
another, his is just more apparent because it happens to be physical.
He went to college at UCA and joined a fraternity. He was livin' large and partying like a rockstar!
His parents, conservative Christians, disapproved of his lifestyle and sought power of attorney. They
took him out of school and had institutionalized. On the day of the Power of Attorney Hearing, they
made sure he was so drugged that he appeared to be incompotent. He says that he has no real
memory of the event, other than he kept falling asleep.
Instead of helping him become a productive member of society, helping him through the rough spots,
making him see that he really could be somebody DESPITE his physical limitations, the door was shut
in his face and he was locked behind the gates of the most horrible nursing home imaginable.
The residents of the Long Meadow Nursing Home all have some sort of mental illness and they are all
elderly. Chris shares a very small, drab room with 2 old, senile men. There is a portable toilet for all
three sitting in the middle of the room. Upon entering the home, dignity and privacy are checked at the
door. The smell of sickness and death were overwhelming and it was all we could do not to vomit.
The "yard" is fenced and kept locked.
He is not allowed ANY trips off the grounds unless his mother approves them in advance, which she
will not do. His father died a few years ago. Chris was taken from the home long enough to attend
the funeral, then sent back to grieve alone. We tried to arrange for him to have internet access. The
home said that we "certainly could get internet for him, IF his mother approved". Guess what? She
didn't. So there he is, alone, with virtually NO contact with the outside world.
He rarely gets visitors. Chris' mother made sure he was far enough away from any of his friends and
family to ensure there would be no outside interference or influence. His entire family has abandoned
him. Mom went and bought herself a little red Corvette. Wheel chairs really don't fit in a Corvette.
Besides, she's the secretary of the Central Arkansas Corvette Club. Who has time for a disabled son?
Here's a quote from her January, 2007 CENTRAL ARKANSAS CORVETTE CLUB
NEWSLETTER. “I want to thank you CACC for responding to the call and giving from your
heart. God bless you and our club for rising to a very necessary need. You made a young
women realize that miracles still happen.” WHAT ABOUT YOUR SON, JOYCE
JOHNSON? WHERE IS HIS MIRACLE?
He's lost all control over his own life and his rights have been stripped away. He's locked up like a
criminal. Amanda and I will forever be haunted by the image of Chris, locked behind the gate of the
Long Meadow Nursing Home, beaten down, unloved and unwanted, waiting to die in that Hell hole.
I urge you to write Chris a letter. Tell him he is NOT forgotten. Tell him that people still care.
Write to Chris Johnson at:
Long Meadow Nursing
912 Section Line St.
Malvern, AR, 72104
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