Then the Guardians interfered and herded people back into their apartments. People were enjoying the chance to get together and talk. and doing laundry was like being at a party. Many people, both elderly and disabled, crowded into and around the laundry room. She was friendly and open, enjoyed talking with people and this drew people together. The laundry room became a social center of the building as Margaret became the “social director” of the room. Management condoned their bullying, which consisted of forcing the people living with disability to stay in their rooms and out of the common areas, including the courtyard and common room-this was institutional bullying.

They had been routinely bullying disabled individuals in the building. The Guardians did not want any disabled persons living with them and had for some time objected to sharing the building with younger, disabled residents. At Wuthering Heights, the Guardians included a core group of a few elderly women and a couple of men, all longstanding Attleboro residents who were politically well-connected as well as about eighteen followers. Margaret, a personable, vivacious woman living with disability, was the victim of bullying in Wuthering Heights, a privately owned, HUD-subsidized apartment building in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Instead, she was bullied, evicted, and made homeless. At Wuthering Heights she was determined to regain her autonomy and independence despite these challenges. When Margaret, at fifty-three years of age, moved in to Wuthering Heights in late 2010, she had been the victim of domestic abuse, had a serious and painful back injury which severely limited her mobility, and had for some time been without adequate food and nourishment.

A Tree for Max by Jerry Halberstadt